I was born in Pazin on April 9, 1948. I must admit that I spent a lot of time in front of a mirror when I was a child. When I was four, we moved from Pazin to a house in Buzet. I spent a lot of time there playing with my two sisters, the elder Mladenka and younger Jadranka, as well as my brother Mladen. I was known as a girl that would climb any tree in Buzet. My father was a clerk and we lived in a house with a garden, as tidy as a pharmacy. It was hard to live on father's salary, but we weren't hungry. My father was quiet and tidy and I loved working in the garden because of him, while mother taught me to love the house, so that even now I don't refrain from any chores in the house.

I have a small parrot who always makes me happy with its magic twittering, but I am really sorry that it's locked in the cage. I also have a small hampster, so cuddly and cute. I feed it, clean it and my dear daughter Ana helps me with all that. When I am down, and all people have such moments, Ana knows how to surprise me, make me happy by taking me somehwere, to a nice place, at the sea, and then I quickly forget all the problems surrounding us.

I love my family and would sacrifice everything for them. I love the whole world, all the people and I approach future with optimism. Peace in the house, peace in the people, peace in contries... That's the ideal I expect, I aspire to, because that is the only thing that can bring peace to everyone's soul and heart.

I was an excellent student in school, just like my sisters. In primary school I started singing in a choir, played in an orchestra, and went in for handball... For my generation, the leadership of our music teacher Branko Jirasek was extremely precious. I see him now as a person of surpahuman qualities.

When I finished primary school, there was a question of where to go on with my education. Buzet was one of the poorest municipalities in former Yugoslavia at the time. Apart from the primary school we had practically nothing, not even a factory or any economic activity. My elder sister, with the scholarship of the municipality of Buzet, started a secondary music school that she had wanted to go to so much. I also wanted to go to a music school. But, when it was my turn to decide, father didn't let me attend the music school, despite my great wish. He thought one could not earn a living on that.

 

It seemed to me my wish would never come true, but I felt I was made for music. And then I got a scholarship from the Istria Waterupply Company from Buzet for a secondary economic school and I was supposed to be happy because of that. I had to leave my family and go to Pula and Pula was like a prison for me at the beginning. So close and actually so far away. It was difficult to find my way. I was the only one among all the students in the classroom that lived separate from the family. For a short time I lived in the student residence hall, but my father found a place for me and my sister with a lady. I saw my sister only in the evening because she had to practice a lot in the music school.

Mladenka completed the music school and worked as a teacher all the time travelling to three schools near Buzet. My brother Mladen is also a musician and he works with children as a music teacher in Buzet.

At the age of 15 I was tall, slim and wore nice clothes. Those were not expensive things, but I always tried to give those garments a special touch. I pursued my talent singing permanently and in 1963 I applied for a competition presssed by my friends Mirko Cetinski, Lidija Percan and Arinka Senago. It was something similar to the "First Applause" and such events, where young and talented singers were recruited, were numerous at the time. I was successful in those events from the very beginning but it took me a lot of time to win the first prize. I would get the second or the third prize most often. The next year, 1964, owing to such positions, I got the right to represent Croatia at the festival of amateur singers of Yugoslavia. There were more singers from other republics, but, apart from me, Croatia was represented with Tomislav Boric only and he was later my partner in the "Gubec-Bej" for some time, replacing Branko Blace. The host of the festival was our well-known and renowned actress Zdravka Krstulovic. I remember she was unbelievably beautiful. She was so kind that she lent me her dress one evening. I am extremely grateful to her for that even now. I was ranked seventh in the festival, but out of all the singers that appeared there, I'm the only one who's still here, on the stage.

Along the economic school, hiding from parents, I attended the music school and my teacher was Dubravka Stopic. However, I didn't finish the music school because it was difficult to attend two schools, especially because I was taking classes of solo singing. Trying to train me for something that would last, Mrs. Marija, who taught me solo singing, gave me difficult exercises for developing breathing techniques and thus completely exhausted me. I had to provide food because the scholarship could only cover the accommodation, so I had to babysit to survive. I had to economize. Still, I had always felt deep in myself the call of music, the call of art. I knew music was my future. No matter how difficult the road to the goal was, I was ready. I was slowly entering the ring of survival in the showbusiness world.

My singing successes did not remain unknown and I began to work with the Istrakord orchestra. They were not my peers, but serious people, so I felt proteced among them. We performed in Pula, toured the surrounding towns and places where music life was active at the time. At that age, and I was 16, I had a serious repertory, which I try to do now too. I had to try hard to cope with the English texts. I believe it was worth it and the audience recongized it. My job was a big support for my education. I could afford some things and my aversion for the town alleviated. Pula is, actually, a fascinating town. But when you have problems you don't see all those nice things around. That's what the tourists could see. I looked into the books and music and studied.

1967 was an important year. Sad but also nice things happened. That year my father died. A lot of things happened: graduation, then my first great love and a marriage proposal. That year I went to the big family of my husband where I gave birth to my daughter Sanda the following year. I was twenty. That is why it is no wonder that I am a granny already, because my daugher became mother at twenty too. Some things are simply predestined. Although with a child, I had to work. That has been an imperative all my life. Three years after the childbirth I continued singing, which was tiring because in the evening the child had to be washed and fed and after that I had to put on the make-up and work sometimes until two a.m. and get up at six in the morning because of the child. My husband, also a musician, helped me in writing scores and he also accompanied me on the piano, while my mother-in-law tried to take over care about the child as much as she could. Owing to the family support I managed to deal with the job I had chosen. When you live in a large family it is much easier; somebody holds the baby, the others will feed it, wash it... In addition to my mother-in-law, myself, my husband and daughter, we had my mother's-in-law sister, my sister-in-law with her husband and daughter and three tenants in the house.

I got my first invitation to an international festival in 1969. It was really like in a fairy tale, as a sudden award for everything I had achieved by then.

I found myself, together with the composer Alfi Kabiljo, at the Canari Islands and I glittered among the known singers from all over Europe. It was the "Festival de Atlantico" in Puerto de la Cruz, where singers from Italy, Spain, Greece, France and other countries performed. The success at this festival opened doors for performances on TV and brought me an exclusive contract for the publishing house Belter from Barcelona, which had the best singer Spain had at the time. I sang songs by Alfi Kabiljo in Spanish and the records sold wonderfully because Spanish media did excellent job reporting on my work. I learned the language quickly because the knowledge of Italian, which I acquired in childhood, was a good basis. I got my show on Spanish television – I remember that the entree was extremely glamorous – and my guest was Julio Iglesias. The show went live and we had an orchestra in the studio, and my guests were famous musicians such as Salome, Concita, Kristina, Don Lurio ... The show was directed by Valerios Lazarov that I had met previously in Bukarest. I participated in several festivals in Spain, I travelled to Madrid to make records and performed in Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona and, of course, staying in such places resulted in socialising with jet set. One of the jury members at the festival was Joan Collins. Joan Collins and her husband at the time invited me to visit them in London and Los Angeles, but I didn't go. It all ended with this socialising in Spain and the "see you" phrase. I am not the kind of person fascinated by such things. It was nice to be with Joan Collins, Shirley Bassey, but it is equally nice to meet a colleage such as Josipa, Gaby or Tereza. I didn't try much to be seen with famous people. Actually, it often happened the other way round, that they tried to be close to me because I was then surrounded by paparazzi and journalists. I couldn't go unnoticed to a dinner without a journalist showing up.

But the journalists have never bothered me. Those are people like all of us who do their job. Some of them have good intentions, but there are those who do not. You can find that in any job. That is why it is necessary to recognize good people, who come to you with their heart open and stay friend with them. I learned that and I have always stuck to that.

Another turning point in my career was Rio de Janeiro in 1970. There was a world festival of pop music with participants from all over the world. No festival held nowadays can compare with this one. Jury members were greatest stars such as Ray Conief, Paul Simon, Spanky Wilson, Shirley Bassey, Burt Bacharach... and representatives of 46 countries performed. The song I sang was "The World is Mine". I function much better on big stages, with a large orchestra than with small ones, I fully merge with the stage. Of course, there was a touch of thrill, but I was so self-confident that even now, when I go back to the events and the excitement I had, it seems that I was not aware what was going on around and what it all meant to me. I won the first prize at this festival. When I was on the stage, there was some fuss in the backstage and I, who had already won, was given the second prize because, they said, there was a mistake in counting votes. The Argentinian singer Piero got the first prize. It was a scandal, but it brought me much more publicity than if I had been the first. They announced I was the best singer in the world and I accepted it as a consolation prize. It incited a lot of texts about Alfi Kabiljo and me. There was a series of festivals in Tokio, Soeul, Athens, Puerto Rico, Caracas, Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles, "Bratislava Lyre", then again Rio de Janerio, Los Angeles, New York and I came with an award from each festival. I beat David Bowie in 1969 and that is the year which is not mentioned when his career is discussed. It seems to me now that all these successes happened to someone else. Touching the stars on world stages, I still didn't deluded myself of being untouchable. Even now, when I have "learnt my trade", and when I can say that I rule the stage without fear, I am aware how much I am the same to the people who listen to my singing. I was not sent as a representative by anyone from my country. Alfi and I were one team, while the teams of other countries had eight or nine members.

I have always provided clothes myself. All my dresses were hand-made and sewn. My old friend Mrs Anita Batricevic Kalina took care of my clothes. In Rio I wore a small, white mini-skirt and a white cape of the same material over it, luxuriously trimmed with ostrich feathers. I was proclaimed the smartest lady of many festivals and I was on front pages of world magazines. In Rio I had a make-up artist Aneal who became known after he did the make up for Veruska, then the well-know fashion model. I wore turbans or would just have an appropriate hat. All these successes in the world did not change me or the attitude of my family towards me. The moment the curtains were drawn, when the cameras stopped shooting, I always had a feeling "I wish I were at home". I made a significant difference between the stage and home: those were two completely different things in Radoyka. I came back home as a winner from Rio, with my child, mother-in-law and the whole family witing. I had to clean and tidy up the house.

Among the performances in the world, I did not neglect our festivals. I sang at the festival in Opatija, Zagreb, Split... I sang "Where is this ship sailing" ("Kud plovi ovaj brod") when I was on the peak of international career at the Split festival in 1970. At the end of seveties I got the role of Jane in the rock opera "Gubec-Bej". At that time my marriage started falling apart slowly. It was difficult, but I simply left the house of my husband with several suitcases, a car and my child. I moved to Zagreb and rented a flat. But Sanda did not like Zagreb's climate. Because of her alregy I was forced to return to my father's house. I worked a lot. After "Gubec-Bej" I got the role of Nera in the rock opera "The Wich of Grich", and Rajko Grlic talked me into accepting this acting challenge and he also gave me the leading role in his film "Bravo Maestro". I went to the Cannes Festival with the whole team to the projection of the film. Although full of glamour, it was an ugly period because I was away from my child. I travelled constantly between Rijeka and Zagreb and I crossed that road million of times, in ice, snow and fog. After several years I entered the second marriage.. I married a man from Zagreb and got my daughter Ana. My daughters love each other immensly and I have never favoured any of them. When Ana was born, my career stopped. Ana had health problems, but despite that my husband decided to divorce me when Ana was two and a half months only. At that time I had his financial support, but nothing else. It was definitely the worst period of my life. I must admit I needed years to recuperate. Alone. I decided to go through it by saying myslef that it was a bad period that would pass. Without anyone offering me a shoulder for crying, without anyone's support, without alcohol, tranquilizers, being with only once vice of mine – cigarettes, I managed to go through all these crises, enjoying the progress and growth of my Ana. That gave me strength. Sometimes, when it was especially difficult, I looked at my trophies and wondered if it was fair that I was undergoing such difficulties and that no one saw my successes. Still, I never allowed suffering to be seen on my face and I didn't withdraw from public life. Zvonko Spisic wrote just for me the song "The Life of Mine" ("Život moj") that I sang at Zagreb festival. I think it's one of his best songs. It took me a lot of strength to sing those lines, because in the song I recognized my life. Still, life went on and I embarked on some new music domains.

 

 

When the war started I performed, just like many of my colleagues, at numerous charity concerts. I didn't have paid concerts and it is well known that my records were a rarity. I think someone else should give an answer why it is so, because dear people from all areas call me, saying they're sorry I have no concerts or records. I greatly exhausted some savings that were supposed to help me breathe easier in the old age. As a compensation for such a situation, I decided to intensify performances with the program of sacral music with professor Sumak, professor Ocic and finally with maestro Alan Bjelinski and the chambre orchestra "Windstrings", because it was very important for me to recover from all the sad things. It was a classic program (Zajc, Verdi, Stradella...) greatly accepted by the audience and it fully reflects the characteristics of my voice. After all those concerts I felt terribly tired, but also fulfilled. In that way, the fatigue would disapper quickly as I knew I was doing the right thing. I then turned to the festival where I performed at the beginning of my career. Those are "Melodies of Istria and Kvarner". I moved back to Rijeka where I still live. I perform at the Split fastival, Zagrebfest, MIK and others. I published the CD "Fire and Ice" ("Vatra i led") where I am close to modern sound, then "In the Fragrance of Sea" ("Va dihe mora") CD with songs in chakavian dialect with a number of songs from MIK, as well as "Be Joyful" ("Radujte se") with a selection of best Christmas carols. Recently, Croatia Records has published my "Golden Collection" as a summary of my long career.

In 2006 I made an excellent cooperation with musicians from Scandinavia and after that my new CD "Men Are my Best Friends" was recorded. It has a symbolic title because I sang songs that had been performed exclusively by men by then. I crossed that obstacle and that CD has been wonderfully accepted by my audience.

Of course, I have some other projects in mind and I'll speak about them when the right time comes. I now mainly perform in small churches with sacral music, but I also perform on bigger stages accopmanied by an orchestra or my band led by professor Vladimir Babin. I was recently a guest in a Polish theatre, then in Copenhages and I'm planning concerts in Zagreb and other places.

My life moto is to go on with life and to love and I'll sing as long as I have strength and as long as my audience wants it.

Because, in the end, audience is actually my beginning and my end. When there is no more applause, and if I don't feel the mutual vibrations between us, I won't be on the stage any more.

Radoyka Šverko