Toma Zdravković


Tomislav "Toma" Zdravković was a Serbian singer-songwriter and recording artist.
Zdravković has been described as a bohemian. His songs, although having the form of Serbian folk music, had the spirit of chansons. He had a characteristic baritone vocal, not too powerful but warm, resembling that of Charles Aznavour. Most of the lyrics were written by Zdravković, devoted to unfortunate love, and love-suffering while drinking and singing in omnipresent kafanas. He was married four times.
Some of Zdravković's most renowned songs are "Prokleta nedelja", "Dotak’o sam dno života", "Ostala je samo uspomena", "Pustite me da živim svoj život", "Dva smo sveta različita" and testimonial Pesme moje.

Career

Tomislav Zdravković, nicknamed "Toma", was born in Aleksinac, and lived in Pečenjevce near Leskovac in Serbia, at the time part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. His father was Dušan and his mother Kosara. His parents had five children, Tomislav being one of the elder children. The family spent most of Zdravković's life in poverty. There was a high rate of unemployment in his village, thus when he turned 18, he decided to look for a job as a singer in the town of Leskovac. He eventually became a singer in a kafana in Leskovac called "Dubočica". Afterwards, he moved to Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina where he sang in the Hotel Bristol.
Zdravković's first album was named Essagerata, released in 1964. That year, his first true love, a girl named Slavica who Toma loved, died prematurely at the age of 20 after a serious illness. Zdravković wrote a song named "Buket belih ruža", dedicated to her, which is still considered his saddest song.
In 1969 he attended the "Ilidža 1969" music festival, and won the second place with the song "Odlazi, odlazi". Later, around 100,000 copies of the album were sold. And, when Zdravković wrote a song for his friend, Meho Puzić, and it sold around 500,000 copies.
In 1969, he and Silvana Armenulić sang in the same group, and Zdravković, to express his gratitude to her for helping him launch his musical career, wrote the song “Šta će mi život". The song became one of the biggest folk hits ever written in Yugoslavia and transformed Armenulić, and Zdravković himself, into superstars. Zdravković later published his own version of the song.

Personal life

Zdravković was married four times. He met his fourth wife, Gordana, in Toronto, Canada after visiting the United States and Canada in order to receive treatment for bladder cancer in 1973. With Gordana, he had one son, named Alexander.

Return to Yugoslavia

Zdravković returned to Yugoslavia and published a song "Umoran sam od života" and immediately became a best-selling artist again.
In 1982, he held his first concert in the Belgrade Dom Sindikata, after 26 years of singing. He sang his major hits like "Danka", "Ciganka", "Prokleta nedelja".
He acted in the movie "Balkan Express" and in the TV series "Doktorka na selu".
In 1987, he organized a farewell tour. He held his last concert in Podgorica, Montenegro.

Death

After 17 years of battle with prostate cancer, Toma Zdravković died on Monday, 30 September 1991, aged 52, in Military Medical Academy, Belgrade.
A musical biopic of his life entitled Toma premiered at the Sarajevo Film Festival in 2021.

Discography

This is a list of all the singles, extended plays, and albums that Toma Zdravković recorded during his lifetime:Essagerata Dan po dan prolazi Cvetak mali s rosom razgovara Detelina sa četiri lista Nedžmija Ciganka A nemam baš nigde nikog na ovom svetu Kamena stena Odlazi, odlazi Dok tebe nisam sreo Sliku tvoju ljubim Boli, boli, boli Kad se voli, što se rastaje Pesma o Kitty Swan Dete Ulice Što te večeras nema Poslednje pismo Živorade O majko, majko Prokleta Nedelja Petlovi poje Sutra se vraćam kuči Nikad neću da te zaboravim Jugoslavijo Umoran sam od života Majko, vrati se Zbogom moja mladosti Mirjana Čekaj me Dva smo sveta različita Dotakao sam dno života E, moje brate Dal je moguće Evo me opet Kafana je moja istina
  • ''Odlazi, odlazi''