This morning at 6:50 former Yugoslavian representative at Eurovision 1971 Krunoslav Kićo Slabinac passed away in the hospital room of the Clinical centre in Zagreb, where he has been for the last three months.

Slabinac ended up in the hospital in early August due to a coronary disease that had affected his blood vessels. Despite the successful procedure, during which he had three stents implanted, his recovery was complicated as the wound on his chest did not heal properly.

Croatian pop singer Krunoslav Kićo Slabinac was born in Osijek on 28th of March 1944. In the 1960’s Slabinac was a member of several rock’n’roll bands. He then started a solo career and moved to Zagreb. While performing in a club, he was noticed by Nikica Kalogjera, who gave him a chance to appear as a newcomer at the Split Festival in 1969. A year later, Krunoslav won the first prize at Opatija Festival. He represented Yugoslavia at the Eurovision Song Contest 1971 in Dublin with the song “Tvoj dječak je tužan”, and he placed 14th out of 18 competing entries.

His biggest hit was song “Zbog jedne divne crne žene”. During the 1970s, some legal troubles and time spent abroad set back his career. After he returned from the USA, Slabinac focused more on folk music, although he activetly took part in the Croatian pop music scene. During his long career which lasted more than 40 years, Slabinac has collaborated with numerous authors such as Đorđe Novković, Zdenka Runjić, Arsena Dedić, Drago Britvić and many others.

Our deepest condolences go out to Krunoslav’s friends and family for their loss. May he rest in peace.