Severina

Severina Vučković (born April 21, 1972 in Split) is a Croatian pop music star. Her stage name is simply Severina. Her music has various folk and cabaret-style influences. She won many festival-awards and her albums achieved high sales. Some of the better known songs have included Kad si sam, Dalmatinka, Djevojka sa sela, Ja samo pjevam, Paloma Nera, Virujen u te, Ante, Adio ljube, Hrvatica, Adam i Seva, Moja štikla, Krivi spoj etc. She won the Dora 2006 festival with the song "Moja štikla" and represented Croatia in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, Greece, on May 20, 2006 finishing in 13th place with 56 points. The song caused some small controversy in Croatia, as many journalists and commentators with claimed it resembled Serbian music, when in fact the song contains elements of traditional Dalmatian music styles. Although the most prominent Croatian ethno-musicians such as Dunja Knebl and Lidija Bajuk disagree, both the composer Boris Novković and Severina affirm that the song includes Croatian folk music influences from the Dalmatian Zagora (Inner Dalmatia) such as ganga and rere singing and ljerica instrumentation. In 2004 she became part of a scandal reported worldwide after a personal sex tape featuring her and a married man leaked onto the Internet. The very sexually graphic nature of the video, and the fact that she was doing all of this with a married man shocked the nation and permanently damaged her public image, as she was a symbol of religious modesty, promoting abstinence and morals in many of her public appearances. With this image in shreds, Severina decided to sue the website that released the tape for damages, but the case was dismissed by the District Court in Zagreb. By this stage the video was already widely available on the internet. However, while perhaps ruining her religious image, it actually boosted her career, especially internationally as the story was reported around the world and millions who had never heard of Severina now knew of her. This career boost is similar to what fellow celebrity sex tape stars (such as Paris Hilton) have experienced. Severina now embraces a more sexy image, particularly highlighted in her choices of revealing costumes and dances. The new image has so far been successful for her. In 2008 she released her 10th studio album Zdravo Marijo (Hail Mary) that is already megapopular in ex-Yu countries.