Bato, Bato
Bato, Bato is the third studio album by Yugoslav pop-folk singer Lepa Brena and her band Slatki Greh. It was released 5 January 1984 through the record label PGP-RTB and with over a million copies sold it is the best-selling album in Yugoslavia and made Lepa Brena a superstar outside of her home-country, especially in Bulgaria and Romania.
This was her fourth of twelve albums with Slatki Greh.
Background
This album marked the end of Brena's cooperation with her former manager and saw her usher in a new level of popularity with Zachar's replacement Raka Đokić. For the new record's promotion, Brena found herself acting again next to Nikola Simić in the film Nema problema. The film and the new album Bato, Bato were highly successful. The film won the "Oscars of Popularity" that year. The album sold 1,100,000 copies and thus became the best-selling album in Yugoslavia's history. At the signing of the album in Belgrade, over 5,000 people came, which caused massive crowding and traffic jams. Thanks to this album, Brena became one of the most popular singers in Yugoslavia, becoming a mega star in Romania and Bulgaria. In Timișoara, Romania, on August 10, 1985, 65,000 people attended their concert at the Stadionul Dan Păltinișanu.
Title
The album name comes from a male nickname, Bato, very common in former Yugoslavia. Although there is also an English version of this name, which means 'son of the farmer'. It is a form of the name Bartholomew.