Svetlana Ra natovic (Serbian Cyrillic: ???????? ??????????, pronounced [s?

etlana r
a?na?to?it??]; ne Velickovic/??????????, [?elit??ko?it??]), known by her stage na
me Ceca (????, [t?se?t?sa]; born 14 June 1973) is a Serbian pop folk singer, and
one of the most popular singers in Serbia and the Balkans. She started her care
er as a folk singer in 1988. Being one of the highest paid artists in the Serbia
n music industry, she performs pop-folk.
Contents [hide]
1
Early life
2
Career
3
Other activities
3.1
Football
3.2
Politics
3.3
Charity
4
Legacy
5
Personal life
6
Discography
6.1
Studio albums
6.2
Live albums
6.3
Remix albums
7
Filmography
8
References
9
External links
Early life[edit]
Ceca was born Svetlana Velickovic in the village of itorada, then part of Yugosla
via. She lived with her parents, father Slobodan and mother Mira, until 1991, wh
en she eloped to Switzerland with her boyfriend at the age of 18. She has a sist
er named Lidija.[1]
Career[edit]
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Ceca had her first public appearance at the age of nine, in her hometown, and at
the age of thirteen she sang in a hotel on the Montenegrin coast, while vacatio
ning with her parents. Here, the acclaimed singer and accordion player Mirko Kod
ic noticed her, and helped her in recording her first studio album Cvetak zanove
tak (The Little Nagging Flower, 1988). At the age of fifteen, she performed at t
he Ilid a Music Festival in Sarajevo, at which her song "Cvetak zanovetak" won the
competition, and became a hit. Ceca was mentored by Dobrivoje Ivankovic, a comp
oser and producer of folk music, who launched many careers in the 1970s and 1980
s.
Her first two albums, Cvetak zanovetak (1988) and Ludo srce (Crazy Heart, 1989)
were made in the traditional Serbian folk music style with some songs, such as "
Volim te" (I Love You), having a more modern production. Pustite me da ga vidim
(Allow Me to See Him), she quickly became a very popular teenage star and idol f
or many people in Serbia. Her third album, was a major hit in the former Yugosla
via. Ceca became the best-selling artist of the Belgrade TV's record label PGP-R
TB and third best-selling female folk artist in Yugoslavia, behind Lepa Brena an
d Dragana Mirkovic. She continued in the same direction with her next album, Bab
aroga (1991) which included a music video for the song "Hej vr njaci" (Hey Peers)
composed of footage from her eighteenth birthday gala event.
At the age of 17, Ceca was cast in the role of Ko tana, a gypsy singer and dancer,
in Stojan Stojcic's directorial effort of Necista krv (Impure Blood), a movie b
ased on the works of Serbian playwright and novelist Borisav Stankovic. Even tho
ugh she had acted alongside actors such as Rade erbed ija, Ljuba Tadic, she felt th
at her role was unimportant and therefore asked for her scenes to be removed bec

ause of "low quality." The troubled production took years to complete and receiv
ed poor critical reception upon its release in 1996.
She continued to work with Marina Tucakovic, Edin Dervi halidovic and later with
heir young protg Aleksandar Milic Mili, with whom she continues to work today.
next three albums, ta je to u tvojim venama (What Is In Your Veins?, 1993), Ja
o spavam u tvojoj majici (I Still Sleep In Your Shirt, 1994) and Fatalna ljubav
Fatal Love, 1995), broadened her popularity and included hit songs such as "Nije
monotonija" (It Is Not Monotony) and two covers of hit Hanka Paldum songs: "Tra
o si sve" (You Wanted Everything) and "Volela sam volela" (I Loved, I Loved.) Wi
th a more modern production of music, music videos, and an evolving style, her p
opularity grew, as demonstrated by her 1996 album Emotivna luda (Emotionally Cra
zy) and 1997's Maskarada (Masquerade). The song "Nevaljala" (Naughty) from Maska
rada became the number one hit in Serbia for seventeen consecutive weeks. Her re
cording schedule became erratic because of the birth of her two children, Veljko
in 1996 and Anastasija in 1998, and having to deal with family tragedy.

t
Her
j
(
i

She released her tenth studio album, Ceca 2000 (1999), which featured multiple h
it songs: "Crveno" and two covers "Crni sneg" and "Svice dan". Her eleventh albu
m Decenija (Decade, 2001) had two hit songs, "Tacno je" (It's Correct) and the t
itle track. Ceca's twelfth album was Gore od ljubavi (Worse Than Love), released
in 2004, and her thirteenth studio album Idealno lo a (Ideally Bad, 2006) contain
ed the hit songs "Manta, manta" (Dizzy, Dizzy) and "Ko a pamti" (Skin Remembers).
She released her fourteenth studio album Ljubav ivi (Love Lives) in June 2011.
In June 2013, she held a concert at U ce in Belgrade in front of 170,000 people fo
r her 40th birthday singing 47 songs for 4 hours, breaking her personal record.[
2]
Other activities[edit]
Football[edit]
She inherited the football club FK Obilic from her deceased husband and became i
ts president. She often appeared at matches in fur coats and imposed strict mone
tary punishments on players who performed poorly as Obilic, former champion of Y
ugoslavia, sank in the rankings. It has continued to fall, currently relegated t
o a local amateur league. When Miljan Miljanic stepped down as president of the
Football Association of Yugoslavia in September 2001, Ceca was promoted as his s
uccessor. One notable supporter was Velibor Vasovic. The former Ajax captain not
ed that she was one of the few investing money in Serbian football. Former Crven
a Zvezda player Dragan Stojkovic Piksi was elected instead.
In March 2011, Ceca was charged with embezzlement and accused of illegal possess
ion of eleven weapons. She had sold fifteen players of FK Obilic to several inte
rnational football clubs, including Fenerbahe. State prosecutors accused Ceca of
taking for personal use an illegal share in the sale of fifteen players. Ceca de
nied having been involved in any illegal activity, saying her late husband was r
esponsible for FK Obilic and the eleven illegal weapons found in her home, the p
roperty of a man who had died a decade before.[3]
Politics[edit]
Ceca was appointed the honorary president of the Party of Serbian Unity (SSJ) fo
rmed by her late husband, eljko Ra natovic (Arkan). She has not been politically ac
tive and claims to have only accepted the position in honor of her deceased husb
and. After clashing with the president of the party, Borislav Pelevic, on many i
ssues, Ceca withdrew herself from politics completely.[1]
On the
Arkan)
speak
thodox

night of 17 March 2004, Ceca and Kristijan Golubovic (close associate of

gathered demonstrators in front of the government building in Belgrade to
about the situation in Kosovo and the burning of more than 300 Serbian Or
churches in Kosovo.[1]

Charity[edit]
Ceca is the president of the "Third Child" humanitarian fund. Her organizations
prime goal is to increase the birthrate in Serbia and to help families who alrea
dy have three or more children. She has held several humanitarian concerts raisi
ng money for food, clothing, and sundries to benefit the Serbs in Kosovo, after
the 2004 unrest in Kosovo in March 2004.[1]
Legacy[edit]
Due to her enormous popularity, she has been dubbed "Serb Mother" (or "Mother of
Serbia").[4][5][6][7]
Personal life[edit]
Svetlana lived at home until her move to Switzerland in 1991, aged 18.[1] She da
ted Dejan " aban" Marjanovic, a minor Belgrade gangster, who was murdered.[1] She
was then in a relationship with former FK Borac footballer and restaurateur Haro
Samard ic.[1]
While performing for the Serb Volunteer Guard (SDG), a paramilitary force also k
nown as Arkan's Tigers, in Erdut on 11 October 1993 during the Croatian War, she
met her husband, eljko "Arkan" Ra natovic, a paramilitary and criminal. When the P
arty of Serbian Unity (SSJ) was formed, she was asked by Arkan to perform.[8] He
was married at the time, and the divorce that ended that marriage was finalized
two months before their wedding. Arkan proposed to Ceca on 7 January 1995 and t
hey married one month later on 19 February. Their wedding was broadcast on telev
ision, made headlines in newspapers, and was portrayed by Serbian media as a "Se
rbian fairytale." They had two children, a son Veljko in 1996 and daughter Anast
asija in 1998. Ceca's parents, Mira and Slobodan, were against the marriage of t
heir daughter to a paramilitary member."[9]
Arkan was shot on 15 January 2000 in a Belgrade hotel by four gunmen. Despite ha
ving been shot in the head, he remained alive for a brief period of time but die
d in Ceca's arms in the backseat of the car that was taking them to the emergenc
y room. After fifteen months of mourning, she made her first public appearance i
n April 2001 in a television interview. "A part of me died that day... I will al
ways love him, and only him, I'm sure of that...," she said in the interview.[1]
Reformist Serbian Prime Minister Zoran indic was assassinated on 12 March 2003, p
rompting Serbian authorities to launch Operation Sablja. Ceca's luxury Belgrade
home was raided as part of the crackdown on the network of criminals and nationa
lists behind the assassination.[10] The raid led to a thorough investigation. Sh
e was arrested on 17 March 2003 and charged with illegal possession of multiple
firearms. Ceca was one of dozens of people detained in the crackdown and she spe
nt three months in prison. She also claimed the firearms were brought to the hou
se by her late husband.
In 2011, Ra natovic pleaded guilty to embezzling millions of euros from the transf
ers of players from the football club FK Obilic, which she inherited from her la
te husband, and again illegal possession of eleven weapons. Ceca had sold fiftee
n players of FK Obilic to several international football clubs (such as Fenerbahe
.) Serbian state prosecutors accused her of taking for personal use an illegal s
hare in the sale of fifteen players. Ceca denied having been involved in any kin
d of illegal activities, saying that her late husband was responsible for FK Obi
lic and that the eleven illegally possessed weapons found in her home also belon
ged to him.[11] Under a plea bargain, Ra natovic was ordered to spend eight months
under house arrest, avoiding the maximum sentence that the charges against her
carry, 12 years in prison.[12][13] Ceca was sentenced to one-year house arrest (
May 2011 - February 2012) and fined EUR 1.5 million.
According to court records, she has paid 1 million EUR of the fine; the remainin

g third is guaranteed by a mortgage on her Belgrade home. Ceca continues to face

other court cases, such as for violent criminal behavior, repaying a loan from
Komercijalna bank, and repaying a debt to Vojislav urkovic, a former member of th
e paramilitary unit once controlled by Arkan.[citation needed]
Discography[edit]
Studio albums[edit]
Cvetak zanovetak (The Nagging Flower, 1988.)
Ludo srce (Crazy Heart, 1989.)
Pustite me da ga vidim (Let Me See Him, 1990.)
Babaroga (Boogie Man) (1991.)
ta je to u tvojim venama (What Is That In Your Veins?, 1993.)
Ja jo spavam u tvojoj majici (I Still Sleep In Your Shirt, 1994.)
Fatalna ljubav (Fatal Love, 1995.)
Emotivna luda (Emotionally Crazy, 1996.)
Maskarada (Masquerade, 1997.)
Ceca 2000 (1999.)
Decenija (Decade, 2001.)
Gore od ljubavi (Worse Than Love, 2004.)
Idealno lo a (Ideally Bad, 2006.)
Ljubav ivi (Love Lives, 2011.)
Poziv (Invitation, 2013.)
Live albums[edit]
To Miki, To (1990)
Babaroga (1991)
Kukavica + Ta majdan (1993)
Hala Pionir (1995)
Marakana (2002)
Live U ce (2006)
Live U ce 2 (2013)
Remix albums[edit]
London MIX (2005)
C - Club (2012)
Filmography[edit]
Sve O Ceci... (All of Ceca...) (1993)
Svadba Decenije (Wedding Of The Decade) (1995)
Impure blood... (1996)
Usce Live DVD (2006)
Making Of "Gore Od Ljubavi" (2004)
Ceca specijal (Ceca Special) (2012)