Severina Kojić (née Vučković) is a Croatian singer-songwriter and actress.
Born in Split, Severina first appeared on stage in the musical Frane štrapalo. She attended high school before dropping out to focus on her music career. In 1990, she won a Radio Zagreb contest with "DemoX", where she was able to record her first album. Her second album, Severina, became her breakthrough, but it wasn't until her third album Dalmatinka where she achieved great success, especially with the title single.
Throughout the 1990s, Severina achieved further success. Her 1995 album, Trava zelena, saw her write songs for the first time, which also continued with Mojot stvar. The latter received criticism because of her turn to rock, which she reverted with Djevojka sa sela, with the title track used for the Croatian World Cup rally in 1998.
At the turn of the millennium, Severina's 2001 Pogled ispod obrva solidified her status as one of the biggest stars in the Balkans--she enforced this with a tour across major Balkan cities. A sex-tape controversy emerged in 2003, which forced Severina to take a low profile until her next album, Severgeeen, was released the following year.
Two years later, she won Dora with the song Moja štikla, which earned her the right to represent Croatia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens. The song did not come without controversy, as it's suggested that the turbo-folk sound was more Serbian than Croatian. In addition, a number of parodies emerged, including the popular "U govno je stala moja štikla (Turbo folk štikla)" Because Serbia and Montenegro withdrew, the final automatic qualifer spot went to Croatia. She ultimately placed 12th with 56 points.
Along with releasing albums, Severina also has appeared in musical theater. In 2018, she received the Zlatna ptica for being the highest-selling artist in Croatia.
