Jelena Tomašević

Jelena Tomašević (Serbian Cyrillic: Јелена Томашевић; born November 1, 1983, in Kragujevac, Serbia) is a Serbian pop singer famed for her strong vocal performances. She has won numerous awards for her vocals and songs, and represented Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, in Belgrade, Serbia, with the song "Oro". Jelena entered the world of music in her hometown. At the age of eight, she won the top award at the Children’s Music Festival ''Šarenijada'', and, three years later, she became the winner of the Yugoslav Children’s Festival. After becoming a member of the ''Abrašević Folklore Ensemble'', one of the most successful ensembles in Serbia, her music career soared. She achieved tremendous results at the most prestigious festivals. In 2002, Jelena emerged on the Serbian music scene and her career as a pop singer started to take off. She won over the jury in the final of the TV show 3K DUR, which was broadcast on RTS 3, with the aim of promoting young talented artists. Later that same year, she came second at the Zrenjanin Festival and won the Best Novice award. She was the Serbian representative at the prestigious music festivals in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Belarus. After this turning point in Jelena's career, she made a huge breakthrough. In 2003, she competed for the first time at the Budva Festival, in Montenegro, and finished second at the prestigious festival Slavjanski bazar, in Belarus. In 2004, she participated with great success at the Beovizija Festival. In 2005, she met Željko Joksimović and became a member of his Minacord Production Company. She took part at Beovizija the following year, as well, with the song ''Jutro'' (''Morning''), composed by Željko Joksimović and written by Aleksandra Milutinović, and won the top award. Jelena was considered one of the favourites at the Serbian national Eurovision preselection. She came second in the final. Later that same year, she sang the soundtrack to the film ''Ivkova slava'', which was composed by Željko Joksimović. The film pulled in a record number of viewers. In December 2007, Jelena entered the Beovizija 2008 Open Competition, with the song ''Oro'', composed by Željko Joksimović and written by Dejan Ivanović. On March 10, 2008, she won the Serbian national Eurovision preselection, having received the highest number of points from both the jury and televoters. She was awarded the Best Interpretation award by the jury. She represented Serbia, the host nation, in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, on May 24. She came 6th, getting a total of 160 points. Jelena's debut, self-titled album, was released in October 2008. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.