Dorian Gray was an 1980s Yugoslav music group which achieved great prominence in the former Yugoslav rock scene for its artistic and extravagant style and stage performances. It was led by Massimo Savić, who later started a successful solo

Solo (music)

In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...

 career. It should not be confused with the short-lived 1970s German band of the same name.

Biography

The band was formed in 1982 in Zagreb

Zagreb

Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...

, then SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia consisting of the frontman Massimo Savić (vocals

Singing

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

, guitar

Guitar

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...

), Vedran Čupić (guitar), Emil Krnjić (bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

), Toni Ostojić (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...

), and Branko Terzić (drums

Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

), who suggested the name Dorian Gray after the Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...

's fictional character Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray is the main character of Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.It may also refer to:* Dorian Gray , an Italian film starring Helmut Berger...

. Since the group was into 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...

, influenced by artists such as David Sylvian

David Sylvian

David Sylvian is an English singer-songwriter and musician who came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead vocalist and main songwriter in the group Japan...

's Japan

Japan (band)

Japan were a British New Wave group, formed in 1974 in Catford, South London. The band achieved success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when they were often associated with the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement .- History :The band began as a group of friends...

, Bryan Ferry

Bryan Ferry

Bryan Ferry, CBE is an English singer, musician, and songwriter. Ferry came to public prominence in the early 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with the band Roxy Music, who enjoyed a highly successful career with three number one albums and ten singles entering the top ten charts in...

's Roxy Music

Roxy Music

Roxy Music was a British art rock band formed in 1971 by Bryan Ferry, who became the group's lead vocalist and chief songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson. The other members are Phil Manzanera , Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson . Former members include Brian Eno , and Eddie Jobson...

 and some David Bowie

David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

's works, the other members found the suggested name appropriate and gladly accepted it.

Their early rehearsals and gigs were taking place in the art gallery

Art gallery

An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...

 of the Zagreb's Student Centre. After performing in Croatia and the then-SR Slovenia the group soon got critically acclaimed across the whole former Yugoslav federation and took part in the notable music festival

Music festival

A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...

 YURM (Yugoslav Rock Moment).

In the late-1983 Dorian Gray recorded its debut album Sjaj u tami ("Glow in the Darkness") produced by Saša Habić, who played the electric piano

Electric piano

An electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...

 in the recording sessions, which also featured guest appearance

Guest appearance

In show business , a guest appearance is a participation of an outsider performer , usually called guest artist , in an event , i.e., the participation of a performer which does not belong to the regular crew In performance...

s by the bassist Jadran Zdunjić and the saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

 player Miroslav Sedak Benčić. The album, which was a major success was also noted for its artistic record sleeve

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...

 which was designed by Sanja Baharah and Mario Krištofić. Notable hit single was "Sjaj u tami", a cover version

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of the famous song "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)". After the release of the album, the line up

Line up

Lineup may refer to* a queue area of waiting people* a police lineup of suspects* the roster of a sports team at a given time** Batting order in baseball** the starting position in polocrosse...

 was changed since Terzić, Čupić and Krnjić decided to leave the group. New members became: Zdunjić, the drummer Dragan Simonovski and the guitarist Zoran Cvetković Zok, a former member of the eminent Croatian and Yugoslav Rock acts Prljavo kazalište

Prljavo kazalište

Prljavo kazalište is a rock and roll band from Zagreb, Croatia. Since its formation in 1977, the group changed several music styles and line ups but remained one of the top acts of both the Croatian and the former Yugoslav rock scenes.-Beginnings:Prljavo kazalište was formed in 1977 in Dubrava,...

 and Parni valjak

Parni Valjak

Parni valjak 1975 is a Croatian and former Yugoslav rock band. They were one of the top acts of the former Yugoslav Rock scene, and currently one of the top rock-and-roll bands in Croatia.-Biography:Parni valjak was founded in 1975...

. The second album Za tvoje oči ("For Your Eyes Only") which was recorded in Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 and produced by Sjunne Ferger, was released in 1985.

After Dorian Gray disbanded in 1986, Massimo Savić started a successful solo career as a pop music

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

singer.