Vice Vukov

Vice Vukov (August 3, 1936, Šibenik – September 24, 2008, Zagreb) was a Croatian singer and politician. In 1960s he used to be one of the most popular singers in Yugoslavia. He appeared at the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 with the song "Brodovi" and at the Eurovision Song Contest 1965 with the song "Čežnja". Neither of the songs was successful at the Eurovision. In 1972, after Croatian Spring, he was branded as Croatian nationalist by Yugoslav authorities. Subsequently, he was barred from performing publicly and all his records were pulled out of stores. In 1989 album of his new songs, albeit without his name, reappeared in Croatian music stores, signalling the political change. After the introduction of democracy to Croatia, Vice Vukov became a prominent supporter of Croatian People's Party. He ran several times for the seat in Croatian Parliament, finally succeeding in 2000. In 2001 he was suggested to be ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to Switzerland. On November 17, 2005, while descending the stairs in the Parliament building, Vukov tripped and fell, sustaining a serious head injury. He was hospitalized and underwent surgery, but fell into a coma shortly afterwards. In March 2006, according to his doctors, he was in a persistent vegetative state, with no chance for recovery. However, in November 2007, Vukov was reported as being conscious at times, aware of his surroundings, and his condition was described as stable. He died aged 72 the following year. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.