Todor (Toše) Proeski was a Macedonian singer, songwriter, and actor known across the Balkans.
His first public appearance came at twelve years old, when he sang an Aromanian-language song at the Zlatno Slavejče festival in Skopje. His breakthrough, however, came at the Melfest in Prilep in 1996, where his vocal abilities were recognized.
The following year, Toše participated in his first Makfest in Štip with the song "Pušti me", and became a regular singer at festivals such as SkopjeFest and OhridFest. He released his debut album in 1999, Nekade vo noḱta, and started touring alone.
In 2000 he came in 3rd place in SkopjeFest with the song "Solzi pravat zlaten prsten", despite winning the televote. Later, he released his second album, Sinot božji, which the Serbian production company BK House got the rights to release in the rest of the former Yugoslavia, increasing his popularity.
Toše released his third album Ako me pogledneš vo oči in 2002, which also contained songs in Serbian along with his native Macedonian. The following year, he won Beovizija with the song Čija si, which became a hit in the Balkan region. In addition, it was supposed to be Serbia and Montenegro's debut entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, but couldn't because the EBU didn't apply their new relegation rules on time. In the meantime, Toše went to New York to improve his vocals with famous vocal coach William Riley, after which he returned to Macedonia and sang at a number of humanitarian concerts.
The following year, he was selected internally to represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 in Istanbul, and had a national selection where he sung eight songs that may participate. The winning song was "Angel si ti", which was rewritten in English as Life, with different lyrical content. Qualifying from the semi-final in 10th place, it finished 14th overall. The remaining songs were released on the album "Dan za nas" .
Afterward, Toše was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and recorded the song "This World" which became the UNICEF anthem. In addition, he signed a record deal with Dallas Records so he could release his albums in Croatia and Slovenia. He also took up songwriting, including "Muza" ("Muse") for Martin Vučić, who would later represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005.
Early in the morning of 16 October 2007, Toše died in a car crash in Croatia when the car he was in ran into a truck and then hit a median. The news sent shockwaves across Macedonia, and the mourning that followed across the Balkans was among the most significant since Tito's death in 1980
