Mile Lojpur
Milan "Mile" Lojpur was a Serbian and Yugoslav rock musician. Starting his career in late 1950s, Lojpur is notable as one of the first rock and roll musicians in Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one of the pioneers of the [Popular music in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslav rock scene]. Although during his career he did not made any recordings, he had great influence on subsequent development of popular music in Serbia and Yugoslavia.
Biography
Early life
Lojpur was born in Veliki Bečkerek, Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1930. He showed interest in music at an early age. At the age of seven, he got a tamburica as a present from his mother, who later also bought him his first acoustic guitar. He got his first guitar lessons from an elderly neighbor. He attended Kikinda gymnasium, playing piano, saxophone and drums in the school orchestra.Musical career
In 1958, Lojpur started performing in Belgrade with Sekstet M, led by trumpeter Mile Nedeljković, which were one of the first performers of the so-called "električna muzika". They initially performed in Texas club in Cetinjska Street, and in Obilićev Venac student diner, popularly known among Belgrade students as "Tri kostura". In 1959, the group changed their name to Septet M, performing under that name until 1965. Septet M rose to fame on the dances organized at Red Star basketball courts at Kalemegdan Fortress, and on their summer performances in city of Rovinj, situated on the Adriatic coast. Their Belgrade performances, entitled Zvezdane noći, consisted of covers of international rock and roll hits. Working as a secretary in Avala Film studios in Košutnjak, Lojpur had the opportunity to watch films featuring Elvis Presley before they were shown in Yugoslav cinemas, modeling his stage appearance and performances after Presley's. Lopjpur became famous for his spectacular appearance and microphone attached to his guitar. His song "Šumadijski twist", a cover of "Blue Suede Shoes", gained significant local popularity. At the time, he got his nickname "Mile Najlon" as being one of the first young people in Belgrade who wore nylon shirts. On 4 March 1960, Lojpur performed at a concert in Kolarac Concert Hall, the Yugoslav press announcing him as "Belgrade's Elvis Presley".In mid-1960s, with the appearance of Yugoslav beat and rhythm & blues bands, his popularity declined, and he started to perform regularly in Belgrade kafana London. After spending six months performing in Finland, he returned to Yugoslavia, where he performed in Mažestik hotel's bar until the mid-1980s. In 1975, he appeared as himself in Srđan Karanović's TV series The Unpicked Strawberries, which revived the spirit of Belgrade from the late 1950s. In the mid-1980s, Lojpur switched to keyboards and started performing as a one-man band. In 1988, he made a guest appearance on Nikola Čuturilo's first solo album 9 lakih komada in the song "Kad je Lojpur svirao", and in 1996 he made a guest appearance on Prljavi inspektor Blaža i Kljunovi album Plagijati i obrade in the cover of his old hit "Šumadijski twist".