Marija "Maja" Nikolić is a Serbian singer and reality television personality. She built her music career on festivals where she won 26 first prizes so far. She has published 6 studio albums.
Life and career
Early life
Marija Nikolić was born in Niš on 11 April 1975 into a family of musicians and from an early age showed inclination toward music. At seven years of age, Nikloić started participating in children's music festivals with her brother. She won several first prizes and was offered a recording contract with the Zagreb-based label Jugoton, which she lost due to Warfare in Yugoslavia. She graduated from Svetozar Marković gymnasium in Niš.
Career in music
In 1993, Nikolić started collaborating with Serbian composer Vladimir Graić, who wrote a song for her debut solo performance at Pjesma Mediterana festival in Budva, Montenegro. Nikolić has also cited Serbian pop singerMaja Odžaklijevska as a big influence and support at the beginning of her career. She successfully continued competing in the regional music festival as a professional. In 1994, following several festival first prizes, Nikolić released her debut albumSad me promađi under PGP-RTS. In May 1998, she participated in the prestigious international festival Slavianski Bazar in Odessa, Ukraine and Saratov, Russia where she sung "Više nisi moj" and "Đelem, Đelem" arranged by Grajić and Željko Joksimović. As the winner, Nikolić performed at the Moscow Red Square. In the same year she released her sophomore record, Uzmi me, which saw great commercial success. She held her first solo concert on 25 February 1999 in Sava Centar, Belgrade. Following her third album Iz inata, released in 2000, Nikolić left Serbia and moved to the United States where she performed in Harry's Velvet Room club in downtown Chicago, Illinois. She was also the opening act at Diana Rosscharity concert for disabled children in China Club in New York City. From there, she went to Los Angeles, California, where she graduated in jazz singing from the Stella Adler Academy. Nikolić performed "Something To Talk About" from the 2002 movie About A Boy at the 7th Golden Satellite Awards. She released her fourth album, Za moju dušu, in 2006 and her fifth, Crveno, in 2011, the latter being released under City Records, but without any significant success. Nikolić also unsuccessfully competed in Serbia's national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, called Beovizija, in 2003, 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018.
Personal life
Nikolić has two sons, Novak and Lazar. In 2011, she was ejected from the reality TV show Dvor along with Serbian folk singer Miloš Bojanić, due to their anti-semitic remarks. In July 2014, they were eventually acquitted of the charges for hate speech and antisemitism by the Appellate Court in Belgrade.
