Aleksandra Kovač


Aleksandra Kovač is a Serbian singer-songwriter. She is the eldest daughter of eminent composer Kornelije Kovač and the elder sister of singer Kristina Kovač. Alongside her sister Kristina, Kovač came to media prominence as a part of girl group K2, and then launched a successful solo career in 2001. She won a Best Adriatic Act Award at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2006.She was one of the judges on the second series of X Factor Adria

Early and personal life

Aleksandra Kovač was born in 1972 to eminent Serbian musicians, composer and music producer Kornelije and songwriter Spomenka Kovač, who died in 2006 of cancer. She has two younger sisters; Kristina, born in 1974, who is also a musician, and Anja, born in 1988, who is an actress. Kovač was born and raised in Belgrade. Surrounded with music throughout her childhood, Kovač began playing the piano aged 15, while already writing her own material since the age of 13. She cites Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, and Alicia Keys as her idols, and is also a recognized philanthropist.

Career

1989—1998: K2

In 1989 Kovač and her younger sister Kristina formed a duo named K2, and signed a five-year recording contract with Dave Margereson and Kenny Thompson from Mismanagement, a record label based in London. The same year they supported Labi Sifre at his tour in England. The sister supported Bebi Dol in her song "Brazil" at the Eurovision Song Contest 1991. In 1993 K2 supported Errol Brown from Hot Chocolate on a tour. After the tour, they continued working with Brown's band New Underground, a Manchester based production team, consisting of Robert Maddix and Jonathon Beckford. Working on that project, the sisters discovered soul and funk music, and quickly absorbed the sounds of her Manchester friends’ record collection, which was ripe with old-school soul music, such as Aretha Franklin, Sly Stone, Parliament and Curtis Mayfield. At the same time, Kovač studied classical music at the Belgrade University.
In next five years, K2 worked with great names in music such as Derek Bramble, who worked with Whitney Houston and Nona Gaye, the writing duo Rod Argent, who produced albums for Tanita Tikaram, and many others. After their contract with Mismanagement expired in 1995, the sisters returned to Belgrade and wrote, arranged and produced their debut album K2, that hit number one on the charts. K2 sold more than 70 000 copies, and the band had a successful tour all over the country. Their second album, Malo soula, was released in 1996, and hit the charts. In 1997 K2 signed a recording contract with EMI to release an album for the Spanish market, and the sisters traveled to Madrid to record it. In 1998 K2 released their album Vamos de Fiesta. After a successful promotion of the album and a tour, the group returned to Belgrade and stopped working.

1999—present: solo career

Kovač's first solo forays came between tours and gigs with her sister. In 1993 she performed in Spain with latino dance group Locomía, playing the keyboards and singing back vocals. She also backed singer Mickael Herzog on his Spanish your.
Soon after K2 stopped performing in late 1990s, Aleksandra decided to continue solo, but now not only as a performer and composer, but as an arranger and producer as well.
She met a talented and perspective young producer and musician, Roman Goršek, and with him forms the production team "RAProduction", that has been successfully creating music for the past 9 years.
Aleksandra is asked to work with many performers from Croatia and Bosnia, such as: Nina Badrić, Ivana Kindl, Jacques Houdek, Deen, Severina Vučković, Goran Karan, Boris Novković, Vesna Pisarović, Sandi Cenov, etc...
Aleksandra and Roman also produce the songs and albums for the majority of these performers.
In 2001 they begin work on the EP "You and Me", which they single-handedly produce and publish. The EP contains four of Aleksandra's soulful, R&B compositions they convey her experiences in love and life through a mix of funk, soul and two-step. In the same year, Aleksandra and Roman are invited by some of the top world managers to come and present their music and work.
They go to Los Angeles and begin a collaboration with John Mason, the leading entertainment lawyer in the US.
Aleksandra has signed publishing contracts with companies such as Air Chrysalis, EMI Spain, Croatia records, Menart and she is a member of HDS and HUZIP in Croatia and STIM in Sweden.
She composes music for many theatre plays, as well as the score for the RTS' TV series Lisice, numerous commercials and TV shows.
In 2006 she released her first solo album, Med i mleko, and with it, again proved herself as a talented singer and songwriter. Her album was one of the best-selling albums in 2006.
In 2006, Aleksandra appeared in RTS TV show TV lica: Kao sav normalan svet, a show that allows to the viewers, to look inside in a normal day of a popular Serbian TV star, and gave the opportunity to her fans to see how her private life looks like. In that occasion, Aleksandra showed her dogs, and was asked where she likes to go during the day.
In May 2006, she appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan Serbia.
On 26 April 2007 Aleksandra held her first concert in Expo sala in Belgrade. The concert was organised by Serbia's freshly launched Fox televizija.
In February 2008 Aleksandra went to Slovenia to collaborate with a band named Leeloojamais. Together they recorded a bilingual song titled "Mi". Aleksandra has described the collaboration as a "great honor to be on RTV Slovenia participating in the Eurovision Song Contest, and in fact this song received the best response from the audience." The song was written by a Croatian author and it was translated to Slovenian and Serbian by the band and Aleksandra. The song is a single on the Leeloojamais album "Country Club Music".

Discography

Albums

Awards and nominations