Danijela Martinović, known artistically as Danijela (born July 15, 1971) is a Croatian singer. Danijela has a sister, Izabela, who also pursued a music career through Split-based pop act Stijene.

Biography

Born in Split to a middle-class family, Danijela began to sing from an early age. Her big break came in 1991 when she joined the pop band Magazin. Magazin had long been a big name on the Croatian music scene (as well as the wider area, dating back to Yugoslav times); as such, Danijela became one of the biggest national icons. They represented Croatia at the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest, along with the opera singer Lidija Horvat-Dunjko, they performed the song "Nostalgija" finishing 6th (out of 23 entries) with 91 points.

In the late 1990s she left Magazin to pursue a solo career, but she continued to work with the band's leader and prolific songwriter Tonči Huljić. That partnership resulted in Danijela winning the 1998 Dora contest with the ballad "Neka mi ne svane" ("May the Sun Never Rise") and becoming the Croatian representative at the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest, where she came in 5th (out of 25) with 131 pts. In 2007, Danijela participated in the Croatian version of the television show Dancing with the Stars, in which she danced with Nicolas Quesnoit (who was winner of the first season with Zrinka Cvitešić). She was eliminated in the 5th episode.

In December 2010 she released a new song called "Pola Pola". In 2011 she released her new album Unikat. She presented a new song called "Brodolom" or "Shipwreck" at the Croatian music festival SPLIT 2012, which became the biggest summer hit in Croatia. The song reached more than 3 million views on YouTube in less than one month.

External links Official website (in English) (in Croatian) Diskography Preceded by E.N.I. with Probudi me Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 Succeeded by Doris Dragović with Marija Magdalena