Branimir "Johnny" Štulić is a Yugoslav singer-songwriter, musician and author, best known for being the frontman of the popular former Yugoslavrock groupAzra. He is known for his charismatic stage performances and inspiring song lyrics that often combined rock poetry with a strong sense for social commentary, becoming a cult figure.
Early life
Štulić was born on 11 April, 1953, in Skopje, where his mother Slavica and father Ivan Štulić – an officer in the Yugoslav People's Army – were stationed at the time. His paternal Croatian family originates from Nin, being one of the oldest families from the town. At the age of seven, Štulić moved with his family to Jastrebarsko. In January 1967, Štulić moved to Zagreb where he attended high school and later, for two years, studied phonetics and history at the University of Zagreb's Faculty of Philosophy before dropping out.
Music career
He began his musical career with a band named "Balkan Sevdah band", performing beside own songs also The Beatles covers and folk music. The name was changed to Azra in 1977. The initial line up which included Jura Stublić, Marino Pelajić and Mladen Juričić soon dissolved, and they formed another popular band Film. During the 1980s, became one of the most prominent and influential musical acts in Yugoslavia. The Azra days brought Štulić widespread fame in Yugoslavia, as well as a rabid and devoted youth following – Štulić often used his music as commentary directed towards the social and political conditions in the then-Socialist Yugoslavia. He has been living in the Netherlands since 1986. From 1989 performed under his name with live support of "Sevdah Shuttle Band", and released solo studio albumsBalkanska rapsodija and Balegari ne vjeruju sreći. When it became obvious to him that Yugoslavia will collapse, Štulić in 1991 in Sarajevo recorded the albumSevdah za Paulu Horvat, documentary Das ist Johnny in which the most memorable moment was when viewed from the window of Sarajevo hotel room and concluded that soon all would burn, and his alleged last visit of the territory was in 1995 in Belgrade, where produced album Anali and promoted book Božanska Ilijada. In regards to the Yugoslav war, Štulić frequently expressed his disapproval of separatism and was a fervent believer of Yugoslavism and Brotherhood and unity. He commented that "I have no passport, no money and have no place to go back. I had a Yugoslav one and it expired. Yugoslavia is no more, it's the same as when you are born and you are told: this is your dad, this is your mother, because, according to Homer, no one knows, when they are born, who gave birth to them, at least the first three years. And now I do not have my parents and that's why I'm happy". After the ex-Yugo wars ended in 1995, Štulić recorded two solo albums, both published in Belgrade, Serbia, with the last Blase in 1997.
In 2005 he published an autobiography called "Smijurija u mjerama", with average reception. Hrvoje Horvat, a Croatian journalist, wrote a biography of Johnny Štulić titled "Fantom slobode",, published in 2006. Due to Štulić's immense popularity in the former Yugoslavia, the book was an immediate commercial success. However, it was also heavily criticized by many literary critics, and even Štulić himself, for its sometime poor writing quality and alleged misinterpretation of facts. Ines Pletikos directed documentary filmKad Miki kaže da se boji, while Kruno Petrinović a book, Prilozi za biografiju Johnnyja B. Štulića, about the heroes of his poems. Today, Štulić lives a modest and ascetic lifestyle in Houten, Netherlands, with wife Josephine Grundmeiyer. He typically does not give interviews and is very protective of his privacy. He states he has no interest in going back to his rock career, but in the past few years he has recorded and posted on YouTube over 600 traditional songs, hit covers and some original material. He works on the Serbo-Croatian translation of many ancient and medieval works. In 2012 initiated a lawsuit against Croatia Records from Zagreb, the direct successor of Jugoton, over royalty rights, as well book publisher from Belgrade, for copyright infringement. In revolt to the statements made by music editor from the Croatia Records and former Jugoton, Štulić stated that Azra is not a Croatian band and that he is not a Croat, nor the child of a Serbo-Croatian marriage. In the Serbian public it was seen as a reason to proclaim him as a Serbian, however, his lack of declared ethnic affiliation through his career is considered to be related to his revolt of being identified with any of the nations who would start the Yugoslav war. About appearing in Croatia he said that he does not want to perform in occupied territories, and regarding an issue of him not having a valid passport he declined both Croatian and Serbian passport and citizenship. Štulić recorded a composition inspired by Prince Marko in 2012.
