Franka Batelić was born on 7 June 1992 in Rijeka to Ingrid and Damir Batelić. She has a younger brother Nikola who is the singer and guitarist of the Labin-based band "Storm". Batelić began singing at the age of three, initially singing as a soloist with the "Minicantanti" choir and also sang in the church choir of St. Andrew Catholic parish in Rabac. Batelić learned to play piano at the Music school, while her father thought her guitar. After finishing elementary and high school in her hometown, Batelić spent two semesters at the Berklee College of Music, and later enrolled at the Zagreb School of Law. She also attended English language course at the London South Bank University.
2007: Career beginnings
Batelić auditioned for the first series of Showtime in 2007, singing "Come saprei" by Giorgia for judges Jacques Houdek, Ivana Husar and Boris Banović. Batelić won the competition on 22 December 2007 by receiving the highest number of cast televotes in the finals. As a prize, she signed a recording contract with the Hit Records record label. Batelić's winner single "Ovaj dan" was released officially on 14 November 2007.
2008–2013: Breakthrough and continued success
Batelić's second single, "Ruža u kamenu", produced and written by Miro Buljan, Boris Đurđević and Neno Ninčević, was released in May 2008 in Croatia. It was performed at the "12th Croatian Radio Festival" in Opatija where it won the Public's Award in the Pop/Rock category by receiving the most televotes. Later that year, "Ruža u kamenu" was chosen to represent Croatia at the 2008 OGAE Song Contest, an audio event organized by a network of 42 Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs. She won the contest. "Pjesma za kraj" was released as Batelić's third single in January 2009. The song was recorded for the Croatian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 where it finished 7th with a total of 18 points. In December 2009, Batelić and her dance partner Ištvan Varga won the 4th season of Ples sa zvijezdama, the Croatian version of Dancing with the Stars. In April 2013, Franka was the opening act on the Beyoncé's concert at the Arena Zagreb, performing before 18,000 people.
2017–present: Comeback and ''Eurovision Song Contest 2018''
On 27 November 2017, Batelić confirmed via social media that she will release her comeback single "S tobom" on 4 December 2017. The song was first played on Nives Čanović's 385 Show on Narodni radio on 4 December with Batelić interviewed live. The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Sandra Mihaljević and Igor Ivanović and premiered on RTL Televizija's HR Top show on 10 December 2017. It was announced on 13 February 2018 that Batelić would represent Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Crazy". She came in 17th in the first semi-final thus not qualifying for the grand finale.
Activism
Batelić is an LGBT rights advocate, and an animal rights activist. She was the face of the Croatian 2009 "Animal's Friend" campaign.
