Who Is Lepa Brena

Lepa Brena (born Fahreta Jahić, married name Živojinović; near Tuzla, 20 October 1960) is a Yugoslav singer, actress and businesswoman. According to various sources, she has sold between 20 and 40 million records, which makes her one of the best-selling female artists in the history of the former Yugoslavia (sources differ on the exact figure). She grew up in Brčko and has lived in Belgrade since 1980.

She began her career in 1980 as the singer of the band Lira Show, which a year later became Slatki Greh. The albums “Čačak, Čačak” and “Mile voli disko,” both released in 1982, cemented her status as a star. The films of the “Hajde da se volimo” series then turned her into a true pop icon.

Today she is also known as co-founder of the record label Grand Production, which she started with her husband, former tennis player Slobodan Živojinović, and her longtime collaborator Saša Popović. This article follows her path from a modest childhood in Brčko to sold-out arenas across the region.

Early Life and Childhood

Lepa Brena was born near Tuzla and grew up in Brčko. She was the youngest child of Abid Jahić and Ifeta, née Smajlović, and grew up alongside her sister Faketa and brother Faruk. According to available sources, both parents come from villages near Srebrenik.

She spent her childhood in a working-class family, and later said that her parents gave her a modest and carefree upbringing. Besides music, she took up sports early. She played basketball for the Brčko club “Interplet,” and her nickname Brena came from her coach, a physical education teacher, who found it awkward to shout the name Fahreta across the gym.

The epithet “Lepa” was added later by the showman Minimaks. That is how the stage name under which she became famous across Yugoslavia came about.

She first sang in front of an audience in the fifth grade of primary school, at a local festival, performing the song “Sviraj mi o njoj” by Kemal Monteno. She later said it was the only time in her life she felt stage fright. After that, she began performing regularly at dance parties in Brčko.

Education

Lepa Brena attended school in Brčko. By her own account in an interview, she was valedictorian of her generation, while also pursuing sports and music. Details of her further education are not publicly known.

During her secondary school years she performed regularly at local events. Those early stage experiences were her real school of singing and performing in front of an audience.

Beginning of Her Career

In early 1980, at the age of 19, she began singing with the band Lira Show, after the previous singer left the group. According to Brena’s own accounts, she sang well-known international hits at her audition, and she returned to Brčko after a short stay elsewhere, when members of the band invited her to join them.

The band’s frontman, Saša Popović, was at first reluctant to accept her as the new singer, but later changed his mind. Brena then moved to Novi Sad and afterwards to Belgrade, where she has lived since 1980.

She gave her first performance with Lira Show on 6 April 1980 at the Turist Hotel in Bačka Palanka. In 1981 the band changed its name to Slatki Greh.

Her first album, “Čačak, Čačak,” was released on 3 February 1982. Most of the songs were written by composer Milutin Popović Zahar, and the band’s manager was Vladimir Cvetković. Many cite that album as one of the beginnings of the style later called turbo-folk.

Rise to Fame

In 1982, Lepa Brena and Slatki Greh also appeared in the comedy “Tesna koža” (A Tight Spot), alongside Nikola Simić and Ružica Sokić. The film boosted their popularity almost overnight.

Albums of the Eighties

Her second album, “Mile voli disko,” came out on 18 November 1982. Besides the title track, the hits included “Duge noge” and “Dama iz Londona,” and the album reportedly sold around 800,000 copies.

In 1983 the group ended its collaboration with Zahar and Cvetković. That same year it took part in Jugovizija, the Yugoslav selection for Eurovision, with the song “Sitnije, Cile, sitnije.” The appearance sparked controversy, since the contest had traditionally been dominated by pop acts, and the group did not advance to the European competition.

From 1984, Raka Đokić became her manager and producer. The album “Bato, Bato,” released on 5 January 1984, sold around 1.1 million copies. It was followed by “Pile moje” (1984), “Voli me, voli” and “Uske pantalone” (1986), as well as the joint EP “Jedan dan života” with Miroslav Ilić (1985).

Concerts and Stadium Spectacles

As early as 1984 she gave a concert at a stadium in Timișoara, in what was then Romania, in front of around 65,000 people. According to available sources, Lepa Brena and Slatki Greh played more than 350 concerts a year, sometimes two in a single day. Records were also set: 31 consecutive concerts at Dom Sindikata and 17 consecutive concerts at Sava Centar.

Her most famous performance took place on 24 July 1990 in Sofia, at the Vasil Levski stadium, when she descended onto the stage by helicopter in front of about 122,000 people (sources also give around 120,000). That concert is still remembered as one of the most attended in the region.

Films and the “Hajde da se volimo” Series

Manager Raka Đokić came up with the idea of following her seventh studio album with a film in which Brena would play the lead. So in 1987 the film “Hajde da se volimo” was shot, featuring popular actors of the day such as Dragomir Bojanić Gidra, Milutin Mima Karadžić, Velimir Bata Živojinović and Milan Štrljić.

Its success led to the sequels “Hajde da se volimo 2” (1989) and “Hajde da se volimo 3: Udaje se Lepa Brena” (1990). Each film was accompanied by a new album. The album “Hajde da se volimo” (1987) sold around 850,000 copies, followed by “Četiri godine” (1989) and “Boli me uvo za sve” (1990). The album “Četiri godine” also included the song “Jugoslovenka,” which Brena recorded with Danijel Popović, Vlado Kalember and Alen Islamović.

Earlier she had acted in the films “Tesna koža” (1982), “Nema problema” and “Kamiondžije opet voze” (1984). The video for the song “Robinja,” shot near Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, won the award for best video in 1989, and in it Brena wore a costume and hat designed by Thierry Mugler.

Greatest Achievements

Lepa Brena’s long career includes numerous results that are still cited as a benchmark on the regional scene:

• Record sales: according to various sources, between 20 and 40 million copies;
• The albums “Čačak, Čačak” and “Mile voli disko” (1982), which many consider the beginning of turbo-folk;
• The “Hajde da se volimo” series of three films (1987, 1989, 1990);
• Concerts in Timișoara (1984) and Sofia (1990) in front of tens of thousands of people;
• The “concert in the rain” at Belgrade’s Tašmajdan in 1994 and the concert at the Belgrade Arena in 2011;
• Grand Production, one of the largest record labels in the Balkans;
• The “Zar je važno da l’ se peva ili pjeva” tour (2017–2022) with 95 concerts.

These results show that her popularity lasted for decades, outliving changes of times, countries and musical tastes.

The Breakup of Yugoslavia and Public Controversies

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, rising ethnic tensions led to the breakup of Yugoslavia. Lepa Brena became a symbol of the shared country at the time. The song “Živela Jugoslavija” from 1985 and the hit “Jugoslovenka” from 1989 reinforced that image, and she still describes herself as a Yugoslav and a Yugo-nostalgic.

As a result she became a target of the tabloids. Some Bosniaks saw her as a traitor, because she sang in the Ekavian dialect and married a Serb. Tabloids claimed she had changed her faith and name, which she firmly denied.

In 2009, before concerts in Sarajevo and Zagreb, protests were held over photographs allegedly taken in 1993 in Brčko showing her in a Army of Republika Srpska uniform. Brena rejected the accusations, explaining that the uniform was a costume from the video for “Tamba lamba,” and that she had gone to Brčko to rescue her parents. The concerts went ahead without incident.

Solo Career and Grand Production

After her wedding in 1991, Lepa Brena briefly moved to the United States and ended her collaboration with Slatki Greh. A new phase of her career followed, in which she performed on her own.

Solo Albums of the Nineties

After a two-year break, in December 1993 she released her first solo album, “Ja nemam drugi dom.” On 13 June 1994 she gave the famous “concert in the rain” at the Tašmajdan Sports Center in Belgrade, in front of around 35,000 people.

The albums “Kazna Božija” (1994) and “Luda za tobom” (1996) followed. Among the hits are “Sve mi dobro ide osim ljubavi,” “Izdajice,” “Moj se dragi Englez pravi,” “Dva dana” and “Ti si moj greh.” The video for the last of these had an ancient Egyptian theme, with Brena playing a pharaoh.

Founding Grand Production

In December 1998, Lepa Brena, her husband Slobodan Živojinović and Saša Popović founded Grand Production, previously known as Zabava miliona (ZaM). Over time the company became one of the largest in the Balkans.

Grand Production launched the show “Grand parada,” and later its own television channel and a folk music festival. According to media and encyclopedic sources, the founders decided in 2019 to sell the company for about 30 million euros.

The Kidnapping of Her Son Stefan

The hardest moment for the Živojinović family came on 23 November 2000, when their elder son Stefan was kidnapped by members of the Zemun clan, according to the sources. After five days, and after a ransom of around 2.5 million Deutsche Marks was paid, Stefan was released.

After that event, Brena took a break from her career that lasted several years. In a 2014 interview she said she was still recovering from the trauma caused by the kidnapping.

Return to the Stage and New Concerts

The last joint album with Slatki Greh, “Pomračenje sunca,” was released in 2000. After an eight-year break, Brena returned with the albums “Uđi slobodno…” (2008) and “Začarani krug” (2011), the latter produced by Željko Joksimović. Both releases were big successes.

On 15 June 2009 she performed in Zagreb, for the first time since the breakup of Yugoslavia, in front of many thousands of people (sources give between 13,000 and 16,500). At the end of the concert her husband and sons joined her on stage. On 20 October 2011, her birthday, she gave a major concert at the Belgrade Arena.

In December 2013 she released “Izvorne i novokomponovane narodne pesme,” dedicated to her mother Ifeta, and in 2016, together with Steven Seagal, she was the star of the New Year’s Eve celebration in front of the Serbian National Assembly, with around 60,000 people attending.

At the end of 2017 she released the documentary “Lepa Brena: Godine slatkog greha,” and on 1 March 2018 the album “Zar je važno dal se peva ili pjeva.” The world tour that accompanied the album ran from 2017 until 28 October 2022, when it ended in Cleveland, and in October 2018 she gave two sold-out concerts at Belgrade’s Štark Arena.

In recent years she has appeared as a guest at concerts by Senidah and Aleksandra Prijović, and since 20 April 2024 she has been performing on the “Imam pesmu da vam pevam” tour, which began at Sarajevo’s Zetra. On 9 December 2024, during her third concert at Arena Zagreb, she broke her ankle but finished the show. The remaining concerts were held in March 2025, and a new Zagreb performance was announced for 23 October 2026. In early 2025 the public said goodbye to Saša Popović, her longtime collaborator, to whom she dedicated one of her concerts.

Personal Life

Lepa Brena met tennis player Slobodan Boba Živojinović around the time of the film “Hajde da se volimo,” though sources differ on the exact circumstances (the film’s premiere or its shooting). They married on 7 December 1991 at the InterContinental Hotel in Belgrade, and the ceremony became a media event across Yugoslavia. Manager Raka Đokić also released a video recording of the wedding.

She has two sons with her husband: Stefan, born on 21 May 1992 in New York, and Viktor, born on 30 March 1998. When she married, she became stepmother to Filip, Slobodan’s son from an earlier relationship, born in 1985. Filip is married to singer Aleksandra Prijović, and their son Aleksandar was born on 6 March 2019, making Brena a grandmother.

The family lives in Belgrade. Brena has been through several losses: her manager Raka Đokić died on 30 October 1993, her father Abid on 22 October 2010 after a traffic accident in Brčko, and her mother Ifeta on 21 November 2014. Both parents were buried in Brčko.

She speaks openly about her origins. In March 2014 she said on Croatian television that she is proud of her parents and her roots, and she most often describes herself as a Yugoslav.

Interesting Facts

• The nickname Brena comes from her coach, and “Lepa” was added by the showman Minimaks.
• The helicopter she landed in at the Sofia stadium in 1990 belonged to Bulgarian leader Todor Zhivkov.
• During her stay in Bulgaria in 1990 she met the mystic Baba Vanga.
• The song “Luda za tobom” is cited as the Serbian version of the Greek song “Astatos,” and “Ti si moj greh” as a version of “Pia Prosefhi.”
• In November 2024 she became the first musician on the cover of Vogue Adria.
• After the end of her tour, she launched a sock brand, “Lady B,” in 2022.

Awards and Recognition

Publicly available sources do not give a complete list of Lepa Brena’s honors. Among the confirmed ones are:

• Serbian Oscar of Popularity for female folk singer of the year (2009);
• Award for best video for the song “Robinja” (1989);
• Lifetime achievement award after 35 years of career (the organization and exact year are not confirmed);
• Cover of Vogue Adria as the first musician (2024).

Legacy and Influence

Lepa Brena is regarded as a symbol of the former Yugoslavia and of Yugo-nostalgia, because she was one of the last great stars to emerge before the country broke apart. Her image connects generations who grew up with her songs and films.

She set new standards in production, marketing and the visual presentation of music releases across the former SFRY. Her career is also the subject of scholarly work, including a paper by Ana Petrov on her transition from a Yugoslav to a Balkan star, published in the journal “Muzikološki zbornik.”

As owner of Grand Production she helped shape the modern folk scene, and she publicly supports younger performers, such as her daughter-in-law Aleksandra Prijović. For that reason her name still carries weight far beyond music.