May 4, 2023 – Jasmin Stavros, one of the most famous Croatian singers, passed away last night at 9 pm at the age of 68. He fought a serious illness, bone cancer, and was treated at KBC Rebro.
Recall, at the end of March of this year, it was confirmed that Jasmin Stavros had bone cancer. The singer was immediately hospitalized, and doctors suspected that the cancer had spread to his stomach, writes Index.
“The disease started sometime in January. First, I had stomach pains and a duodenal ulcer, which they operated urgently in Karlovac. Then I got sepsis, and they transferred me to the ward in Karlovac. I was there for about 12 – 13 days, I went home, and the next day I had to go to Vinogradska because I couldn’t stand the pain. They did not know what was wrong with me,” said Stavros at the time.
Two weeks ago, he was transferred to the Jordanovac Clinic for Pulmonary Diseases after developing lung complications. “It is true that the patient was transferred to Jordanovac because of complications. I cannot say what kind of complications they were,” said Fedor Šantek, a radiotherapy and oncology specialist from Zagreb’s KBC Rebro.
Jasmin Stavros started his career at the age of 15 as a drummer
Born in Split on November 1, 1954, Milo was immersed in music from an early age. All members of his family were involved in music – grandfather, mother, father, and brother. It is therefore not particularly surprising that he took singing lessons as a child, that he had been playing the drums since the age of 12, and that at the age of 15, he turned his hobby and passion into a job, playing professionally with then-popular Split bands such as Delfini, More and Mladi Batali, which were later renamed to Magazin.
Although at one stage of his life, football was a huge passion, and he even played for Hajduk and, considering the excellent reactions of the coach, believed that he would become one of the best footballers in the world, his father could not come to terms with it. He claimed that all footballers were fools and forced Stavros to learn to play the piano, which he claimed he hated. At one stage, they had to decide between football and music, and his father made that decision for him.
Although most of his career he was known as an entertainer, in the early seventies, Jasmin Stavros began to discover jazz and soon became a studio player in Jugoton and one of the most sought-after drummers in the area of the former Yugoslavia. The list of his collaborators is long and impressive. From Arsen Dedić and Josipa Lisac, through Mišo Kovač and Ivica Šerfezi, all the way to Neda Ukraden and Ljupka Dimitrovska.
In addition, he played percussion for four years at the Croatian National Orchestra, where he was conducted by greats such as Vjekoslav Šutej, Nikša Bareza, Bardeli, and Papandopulo. During that period, he also played with Oliver Dragojević and Meri Cetinić.
Accidental solo career
During the eighties, Jasmin Stavros went to the USA for two years, where he graduated from the Stanley Spector private jazz academy. Although they wanted to keep him as the best European student and gave him a green card to continue his career in America, Stavros decided to return to his homeland and try his hand at being a solo artist.
One of the biggest reasons was that he had a wife and two children. In 1976 he married Žarka, a girl who, as he said, had him at first sight. But her parents were not enthusiastic about it, so immediately after the wedding, the couple went to Russia for six months, where Stavros had a long tour with Magazin and Delfini. They didn’t say anything to their parents, but over time they forgave them. All the more so because Stavros bought an apartment in Split with the money from the tour and thus calmed the parents’ fears that their daughter would end up with someone who does not have a bright future.
As for his solo career, some stories say that it happened accidentally after he recorded the duet “U tebe se neću zaljubiti” with Doris Dragović, and that only because the singer who was supposed to sing the duet did not show up. He concluded that he had “that something” and decided to record a solo album. He recorded his first album with Rajko Dujmić and Stevo Cvikić in 1987, and it was immediately apparent that a star was born. The album sold over 50,000 copies, followed by numerous hits that often reached gold circulation.
How Milo became Jasmin
His friends in Split called him Pluto because of the cartoon character of the same name he loved, and Rajko Dujmić nicknamed him Jasmin Stavros. Milo accepted the name and immediately changed it officially, much to the displeasure of his parents—especially his mother, who never called him by his new name.
And while his parents weren’t crazy about his new name, critics weren’t thrilled with his career turn because the best drummer in Yugoslavia turned into an entertainer. He soon became known as the “party king”. Many people still recount the concert at the Mississippi club in Split, during which Stavros at one point jumped, hit his head on the ceiling, ended up in the emergency room, and after being stitched up, returned to the club and finished the performance professionally, which lasted until dawn.
At one point, the German publishing house Ariol wanted to move him to Germany, where he worked as a studio musician, but ultimately he chose his family again.
From the best drummer in Yugoslavia to a megastar
He officially became a megastar in 1989 with his third album, which included the hits “Umoran” and “Dao bih sto Amerika.” For the next 20 years, he performed over 120 concerts a year. The beginning of the Homeland War stopped many careers, and Stavros then decided not to record new albums but immediately enlist in the army. Since he had no military training because he refused to serve in the JNA, he chose to help in the only way he could. He performed over 500 charity concerts.
He continued his career with collaborations with Tonči Huljić and Fedor Boić, and he also tried his hand as an actor by participating in the comedy show “Jel’ me netko tražio,” which was a great success. He continued to play drums until 2000 when he left that part of his career behind. Admittedly, his son Milo followed in his footsteps and became an excellent drummer, who has several years of jazz academy in Graz and study in America behind him.
In the later phases of his career, his personal life, aesthetic procedures, and the fact that he turned to religion and became a “fanatic” were often written about.
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