Ceca

Svetlana Ražnatović ( Veličković; Светлана Ражнатовић, Величковић; ; born 14 June 1973), better known as Ceca (Цеца, ), is a Serbian singer.

Veličković was born on 14 June 1973 in Prokuplje and raised in the nearby village of Žitorađa.

She graduated from the high school of agriculture, studying pig farming.

Veličković pursued a professional career in music as a child after she had been discovered by Serbian accordion instrumentalist and songwriter Mirko Kodić, who took her to Belgrade where she made her recording debut.

Ceca rose to prominence by competing at the Ilidža Folk Music Festival with the song "Cvetak zanovetak", receiving the first award for a debut performance.

Born in Prokuplje and raised in Žitorađa, she made her recording debut in 1988 and has collectively released sixteen studio albums.

Dubbed the "Serbian Mother" (Srpska Majka), she is recognized as one of the commercially most successful Serbian artists of all time with collective sales of seven million records.

Her first studio album of the same title was released in 1988 under PGP-RTB.

In the following years, Ceca released three more records in succession: Ludo srce (1989), Pustite me da ga vidim (1990) and Babaroga (1991).

In 1993, Ceca released her fifth album, Kukavica, through JV Komerc, on which she began collaborating with the songwriting duo Marina Tucaković and Milan Radulović.

The record saw great commercial success, whilst the title track has become one of her signature hits.

Following the album's release, Ražnatović held her first solo concert at the Tašmajdan Center in Belgrade.

Kukavica was followed by the albums Ja još spavam u tvojoj majici (1994) and Fatalna ljubav (1995), which included stand-out hits like: "Volela sam te", "Nije monotonija", "Idi dok si mlad", "Tražio si sve" and "Beograd".

To promote Fatalna ljubav Ceca had a live show at Hala Pionir.

Between 1995 and 2000, Ceca was married to Željko Ražnatović 'Arkan', with whom she has two children.

In 1996, Ražnatović released Emotivna luda under Komuna.

Same year she starred as Koštana in the film adaptation of the Borisav Stanković's novel Impure Blood.

However, her scenes were eventually excluded from the movie due to poor critical reception.

Ceca renewed her collaboration with PGP-RTS to release Maskarada in 1997.

Her tenth studio album, Ceca 2000, was subsequently released in December 1999.

These two records produced popular songs like "Maskarada", "Nevaljala" and "Crveno".

Following the death of her husband in 2000, Ceca took a break from music.

She returned to the scene in 2001 with the album Decenija, released under Grand Production.

It saw commercial success, becoming her highest-selling album to date.

To promote Decenija she embarked on a European tour, which ended with the concert at the Marakana Stadium in Belgrade on June 15, 2002, where she performed to 70.000 people.

The album was followed by Gore od ljubavi and Idealno loša in May 2004 and June 2006, respectively.

On 17 June 2006, Ceca held a solo live show in Ušće, Belgrade.

In 2011, Ražnatović was convicted of embezzlement and illegal firearm possession; she was fined with 1,5 million euros and to a one year in house arrest.

In June 2011, she released Ljubav živi under Miligram Music, which was sold in 150,000 copies.

After she had served her detention for financial fraud and illegal firearm possession between 2011 and 2012, Ceca released her fifteenth studio album, Poziv, through City Records in June 2013.

It spawned hit-songs like "Da raskinem sa njom", "Ime i prezime" and "Turbulentno".

The album was sold in over 100,000 units.

The scenes were later included to the television series Tajne nečiste krvi, which broadcast in the beginning of 2012.

Furthermore, with 150,000 attendees, her 2013 concert in Ušće, Belgrade was one of the highest-attended concerts in the world.

In 2023, Ražnatović also became the youngest recipient of the Life Achievement Award at the Serbian Folk Music Assembly.

Poziv was promoted with another concert in Ušće Park on the Vidovdan 2013.

According to Ceca's management Ušće 2 attracted 150,000 people, making it one of the highest-attended concerts by a solo artist in the world.

Same year, Ražnatović also performed at the New Year's Eve concert in front of the House of the National Assembly in Belgrade.

In June 2016, she independently released Autogram under Ceca Music.

It featured popular songs like the title track, "Trepni" and "Metar odavde".