D' Boys
Encyclopedia
D' Boys were a former Yugoslav synthpop
/pop rock
band from Belgrade
.
) and Miško Mihajlovski, who reportedly "played the drum machine
" and percussion. Jovanović was previously a vocalist for Lutalice, performed in cafes in France
, spent some time on Goa
beaches performing with jazz
and rock
musicians from all over the world, and was a vocalist for the German
progressive
/krautrock
band Jane, with which he recorded their 1980 self-titled album. Mihajlovski was previously a member of the New Wave
/art rock
band Kozmetika
, and was one of the artists gathered around Izgled magazine. In 1982 Jovanović returned to Belgrade, and decided to start performing. After a jam session
, held during the art exhibition
of the comic book
artist Igor Kordej, Jovanović and Mihajlovski decided to start cooperating. Initially, their joint act was known as Peđa i Miško, and later Oksižen (Oxygen
, after Peđa D'Boy's dyed hair), until they finally adopted the name D' Boys, suggested by the host of a popular music TV-show Hit meseca Dubravka Marković and her then-boyfriend Srđan "Gile" Gojković of Električni Orgazam
.
The band initially performed minimalist music
-influenced songs about parties and girls, such is their debut 7" single "Mi smo D'Boys" ("We Are D'Boys"), which led to them being booked as a support act at concerts of some prominent Yugoslav groups at the time such as Film, BOA
and Aerodrom
. The duo was initially often misperceived as a gay
act and was frequently lampooned by the music critics because of their kitsch
y and frivolous lyrics dealing with nightlife, parties and girls, flavoured with typical Belgrade humorous slang
. In the autumn of 1982, two new musicians joined the band: guitarist Goran Vejvoda
and bass guitarist Miško Petrović, also known as Miško Plavi (Miško the Blond), previously a member of the New Wave band VIA Talas
. Having two members named Miško often led to confusion among their fans and in the media. Soon, Goran Vejvoda
left and was replaced by Miško Plavi on guitar, while Dragan "Gagi" Ilić, who previously worked with Slađana Milošević, became the new bass player.
The band released their debut album Ajd' se zezamo (Let's Fool Around) in the spring of 1983, which was recorded in the Tetrapak studio in Split
, with the former Miss Yugoslavia Ana Sasso
on backing vocals. The album cover
was designed by Igor Kordej. Beside "Mi smo D' Boys", the album featured an English language
version of the song, entitled "We Are D' Boys".
During the spring 1984, D' Boys released their second album Muvanje (Hitting On), produced by Oliver Mandić
and featuring members of the hard rock
band Generacija 5
, Dragan Jovanović (on guitar) and Dragan Ilić (on keyboards
, arrangement
s, rhythm machine programming), as guests. The album featured a cover of Roy Orbison
song "Oh, Pretty Woman
" entitled "Lepe žene" ("Pretty Women"), a cover of starogradska muzika
song "Što (Ima dana)" ("Why (There Are Days)"), and the track "Jugoslovenka" ("Yugoslav Girl"), which would soon go on to become the band's biggest hit. During the summer of the same year, the group performed in Greece
. In this period two new members joined the group: drummer Zoran "Cole" Miljuš, and Belgian guitarist of Zaire
origin Jean-Jacques Roscam.
After the band returned from Greece, Mihajlovski left and started performing as Miško D' Boys, while the remainder of the group changed its name to Peđa D'Boy Band.
, while Dragan Ilić died of health complications. Peđa D'Boy Band released the album Laku noć ti, mala (Goodnight, Baby) in 1986, after which Peđa D'Boy performed alone for a short time, and then left the country. Miško Plavi formed the short-lived group Fantazija, which disbanded after only a year. After that he moved to Piloti
, where he played bass guitar. Peđa D' Boy appeared in Yugoslavia once more in 1992 at a retro-concert of former Yugoslav pop and rock music in Belgrade. In 1997, in London
, Peđa D' Boy recorded some new material, produced by Mark Evans, including a remix of "Jugoslovenka". In 2006, he returned to Serbia
, where he still performs.
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
/pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
band from Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
.
1982 - 1985
The band was formed in 1982, consisting of two musicians: Peđa D'Boy (real name Predrag Jovanović, vocals, guitarGuitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
) and Miško Mihajlovski, who reportedly "played the drum machine
Drum machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
" and percussion. Jovanović was previously a vocalist for Lutalice, performed in cafes in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, spent some time on Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
beaches performing with jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
musicians from all over the world, and was a vocalist for the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
progressive
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
/krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
band Jane, with which he recorded their 1980 self-titled album. Mihajlovski was previously a member of the New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
/art rock
Art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...
band Kozmetika
Kozmetika
Kozmetika were a Serbian New Wave/art rock band from Belgrade, notable as one of the pioneers and promoters of New Wave music and culture in Yugoslavia through their youth magazine Izgled.- History :...
, and was one of the artists gathered around Izgled magazine. In 1982 Jovanović returned to Belgrade, and decided to start performing. After a jam session
Jam session
Jam sessions are often used by musicians to develop new material, find suitable arrangements, or simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one...
, held during the art exhibition
Art exhibition
Art exhibitions are traditionally the space in which art objects meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhibition". In American English, they may be called "exhibit", "exposition" or...
of the comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
artist Igor Kordej, Jovanović and Mihajlovski decided to start cooperating. Initially, their joint act was known as Peđa i Miško, and later Oksižen (Oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
, after Peđa D'Boy's dyed hair), until they finally adopted the name D' Boys, suggested by the host of a popular music TV-show Hit meseca Dubravka Marković and her then-boyfriend Srđan "Gile" Gojković of Električni Orgazam
Električni Orgazam
Električni Orgazam is a Serbian rock band from Belgrade. Originally starting as a combination of New Wave, punk rock and post-punk, the band later slowly changed their style, becoming a mainstream rock act.- New Wave years :...
.
The band initially performed minimalist music
Minimalist music
Minimal music is a style of music associated with the work of American composers La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. It originated in the New York Downtown scene of the 1960s and was initially viewed as a form of experimental music called the New York Hypnotic School....
-influenced songs about parties and girls, such is their debut 7" single "Mi smo D'Boys" ("We Are D'Boys"), which led to them being booked as a support act at concerts of some prominent Yugoslav groups at the time such as Film, BOA
BOA (band)
BOA is a Croatian music group, which was especially prominent during the 1980s around the former SFR Yugoslavia.-History:The band's early history started in Zagreb, then SR Croatia in 1974, when its founding members Mladen Puljiz and Slavko Remenarić, switched their interest from classical music to...
and Aerodrom
Aerodrom (band)
Aerodrom is a Croatian rock band from Zagreb. The group was active between 1979 and 1986, releasing five studio albums in that period. Aerodrom saw its greatest success in the early 1980s before launching a comeback in 2001...
. The duo was initially often misperceived as a gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
act and was frequently lampooned by the music critics because of their kitsch
Kitsch
Kitsch is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons while making cheap mass-produced objects that...
y and frivolous lyrics dealing with nightlife, parties and girls, flavoured with typical Belgrade humorous slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
. In the autumn of 1982, two new musicians joined the band: guitarist Goran Vejvoda
Goran Vejvoda
Goran Vejvoda is an English-born, French-based, media artist ....
and bass guitarist Miško Petrović, also known as Miško Plavi (Miško the Blond), previously a member of the New Wave band VIA Talas
VIA Talas
VIA Talas were a former Yugoslav New Wave band notable as one of the participants of the Artistička radna akcija project...
. Having two members named Miško often led to confusion among their fans and in the media. Soon, Goran Vejvoda
Goran Vejvoda
Goran Vejvoda is an English-born, French-based, media artist ....
left and was replaced by Miško Plavi on guitar, while Dragan "Gagi" Ilić, who previously worked with Slađana Milošević, became the new bass player.
The band released their debut album Ajd' se zezamo (Let's Fool Around) in the spring of 1983, which was recorded in the Tetrapak studio in Split
Split (city)
Split is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and...
, with the former Miss Yugoslavia Ana Sasso
Ana Sasso
Ana Sasso is Croatian former beauty pageant contestant and model.- Overview :In 1982 she won a Yugoslav national beauty pageant and she was crowned Miss Yugoslavia to represent the country for the Miss World 1982...
on backing vocals. The album cover
Record sleeve
A record sleeve is the outer covering of a vinyl recording. The sleeve is technically the paper covering that is closest in contact to the surface of the recording, as in "dust sleeve", "liner" and "album liner". The term has come to be synonymous with "record jacket" and "album jacket", which is...
was designed by Igor Kordej. Beside "Mi smo D' Boys", the album featured an English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
version of the song, entitled "We Are D' Boys".
During the spring 1984, D' Boys released their second album Muvanje (Hitting On), produced by Oliver Mandić
Oliver Mandic
Oliver Mandić is a Serbian pop musician, composer, and producer - very prominent and popular throughout the 1980s.-Early biography:...
and featuring members of the hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
band Generacija 5
Generacija 5
Generacija 5 is a Serbian and former Yugoslav hard rock band from Belgrade.-1977—1982:...
, Dragan Jovanović (on guitar) and Dragan Ilić (on keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, arrangement
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
s, rhythm machine programming), as guests. The album featured a cover of Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
song "Oh, Pretty Woman
Oh, Pretty Woman
"Oh, Pretty Woman" is a song, released in August 1964, which was a worldwide success for Roy Orbison. Recorded on the Monument Records label in Nashville, Tennessee, it was written by Roy Orbison and Bill Dees. The song spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100...
" entitled "Lepe žene" ("Pretty Women"), a cover of starogradska muzika
Starogradska muzika
Starogradska muzika is an urban traditional folk music of Macedonia and Serbia.-In Serbia:...
song "Što (Ima dana)" ("Why (There Are Days)"), and the track "Jugoslovenka" ("Yugoslav Girl"), which would soon go on to become the band's biggest hit. During the summer of the same year, the group performed in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. In this period two new members joined the group: drummer Zoran "Cole" Miljuš, and Belgian guitarist of Zaire
Zaire
The Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
origin Jean-Jacques Roscam.
After the band returned from Greece, Mihajlovski left and started performing as Miško D' Boys, while the remainder of the group changed its name to Peđa D'Boy Band.
Post-breakup
In 1985 Peđa D'Boy Band released the album Avantura (Adventure). Later, Jean-Jacques Roscam left the band to join GalijaGalija
Galija is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band from Niš. The central figures of the band are brothers Nenad Milosavljević and Predrag Milosavljević...
, while Dragan Ilić died of health complications. Peđa D'Boy Band released the album Laku noć ti, mala (Goodnight, Baby) in 1986, after which Peđa D'Boy performed alone for a short time, and then left the country. Miško Plavi formed the short-lived group Fantazija, which disbanded after only a year. After that he moved to Piloti
Piloti (band)
Piloti is a Serbian rock band from Belgrade. Formed in 1981, and initially immersed in the Yugoslav New Wave scene, the band later moved towards mainstream pop rock, they came to prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s as one of the leading pop rock acts in former Yugoslavia...
, where he played bass guitar. Peđa D' Boy appeared in Yugoslavia once more in 1992 at a retro-concert of former Yugoslav pop and rock music in Belgrade. In 1997, in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Peđa D' Boy recorded some new material, produced by Mark Evans, including a remix of "Jugoslovenka". In 2006, he returned to Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, where he still performs.
Legacy
- In 2006, the song "Mi smo D' Boys" was ranked #100 on the B92 Top 100 Domestic Songs list.