Indira Radić (Serbian Cyrillic: Индира Радић; born 14 June 1966) is a Bosnian-born Serbian pop-folk singer. She has established herself on the music scene of the former Yugoslavia and Bulgaria and sings almost exclusively in her native tongue. In the period from 1992 to 2015 she released over 15 albums mixing pop/dance and traditional folk elements. This hybrid style, described as turbo-folk, brought her success throughout the region with songs like Ratovanje that incorporated Indian elements.

During the early 1990s, Radić entered a contest for amateur singers and was selected to appear in the final scheduled to be held in Sarajevo. However, this was cancelled as it coincided with the start of the Bosnian War in springtime of 1992. A few months later, Radić contacted the record label Diskos and recorded her first album Nagrada i kazna (Prize and Punishment, 1992) with the band Južni Vetar. After the release of her first album, she moved to Belgrade with her family to build a career. She recorded two more albums with Južni Vetar, Zbog tebe (“Because of You”, 1993), and Ugasi me (“Turn Me Off”, 1994), before releasing her first self-titled solo album (1995) on the record label PGP-RTS. In 1996, Radić began her three-year stint at ZaM production during which she recorded three albums. First of these was Krug (“Circle”), which elevated her image. It was followed by Izdajnik (“Traitor”, 1997) and award-winning Voliš li me ti (“Do You Love Me”, 1998), which provided Radić with many successful performances and tours.

In 2000, Radić started working for Grand Production (previously ZaM), releasing the album Milenijum (“Millennium”) that same year and Gde ćemo večeras (“Where Are We Going Tonight”) in 2001.

A milestone of Radić’s career was when she recorded the duet Lopov (“Thief”) with Alen Islamović, a singer of the Yugoslav rock band Bijelo dugme; the duet was composed and produced by Goran Ratković-Rale for her 2002 album Pocrnela burma (“My Wedding Ring Turned Black”) The duet, which incorporated a new music genre called “pop-folk”, a mix of folk melodies and western pop music, has achieved great success.

In 2003, Radić released the album Zmaj (“Dragon”). It included the songs Moj živote dal si živ (“My Life, Are You Alive”), Tika-tak (“Tick-tock”), Bio si mi drag (“You Were Dear to Me”) and Pedeset godina (“Fifty Years”) and the title track, among others. The album received numerous awards among which was an Album of the Year, The Hits and Album of the Decade, and Top-selling Album. Her songs from Zmaj were translated into Bulgarian, Romanian, Greek, Albanian and Romani.

In the successor states of Yugoslavia, Radić became initially successful in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro. Radić then went on a Balkan tour. On 27 April 2004 she held her first, and at that time, the most successful concert in show business in “Sports Hall” in Belgrade.

She was given an award in Bulgaria for being the “most popular and best singer in the Balkans” in 2005. Between 2004 and 2006, Radić had a successful tour and in 2006 received the award for the largest number of concerts held.

Radić released the album Ljubav kad prestane (“When Love Ends”, 2005), featuring the hit songs April, Deset, devet, tri, dva, jedan (“Ten, Nine, Three, Two, One”) and the title track. It was followed in 2007 by Lepo se provedi (“Have Fun”) with the hit song Imali smo, nismo znali (“We Had It, We Didn’t Know”) In 2008, the controversial single Pije mi se (“I Want to Drink”), off the album Heroji (“Heroes”, 2008), included a music video in which two men were shown kissing. On that same album she sang a duet entitled Hajde sestro (“Come On, Sister”) with singer Ksenija Pajčin. In October that year, she sang the song Ako umrem sad (“If I Die Now”, a song later released on her 2011 album) and in December 2008 she released the full album Heroji. In addition, Indira was declared the Serbian gay icon of 2008. Her song Upaljač is considered to be a gay anthem.

In 2009, she received an award for Singer of the Year. In mid-2009, Radić recorded the duet Možda baš ti (“Maybe Just You”) with Ivan Plavšić. The duet’s entire proceeds went to charity, and consequently she won the Big Heart Award from Put humanizma (“Road of Humanism”) and the Princess Katherine Karađorđević Fund. In October 2009, Radić promoted two singles Pusti me (“Let Me Go”) and Živim da živim (“I Live to Live”)

In December 2011, Indira released her fifteenth album entitled Istok, sever, jug i zapad (“East, North, South and West”). The album included 17 new songs including Marija (“Maria”), which Indira sung in French in a duet with a colleague Stanko Marinković.

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