Jelena Karleuša

**Jelena Karleuša Tošić** (Serbian Cyrillic: Јелена Карлеуша; born 17 August 1978) is a Serbian singer and television personality. She rose to prominence upon the release of her debut album in 1995. Since then she has become one of the best selling and most influential Serbain artists of 21st century, as well as one of the most controversial public figures. Karleuša is also the most followed west Balkan show business personality on social media, including two million followers on Instagram, and has been a recognised style icon.

## Life and career

### Early life

Jelena Karleuša was born in Belgrade, Serbia, to father Dragan (1947), a senior police officer, and radio host mother Divna (born 25 January 1957). Karleuša was raised in the Fontana neighborhood of New Belgrade. She graduated at Zemun Gymnasium, attended music school and was a member of a choir.

### Career

Karleuša initally rose to fame as a turbo-folk singer in the mid-90s and gained popularity with her debut 1995 album Ogledalce (Mirror), selling more than 100,000 copies in Yugoslavia. Later on, she released five more records of the similar genre, but as her career progressed she tried to be perceived as a performer of pop music exclusively. In 2002 she collaborated with the Greek label Heaven Music and their songwriter Phoebus on her seventh album titled Samo za tvoje oči (For Your Eyes Only).

In 2004 Karleuša competed in the national selection to represent Serbia and Montenegro on the Eurovision Song Contest, but lost. The following year she released Magija (Magic) under City Records. Three years after, Karleuša delivered her best-selling album yet, titled JK Revolution, despite the infamous studio session of the lead single 'Tihi ubica' (Silent Killer) and discussions about her vocal abilities. In March 2009 she entered Serbian Celebrity Big Brother as a guest and walked on the second day. In December she released 'Insomnia', featuring Mirza Hamzić. The eccentric electropop single gained her much media attention and in 2010 she held All About Diva Show, a 20,000 people concert in the Belgrade Arena, displaying Karleuša's showmanship with her sexual and eccentric appearances, visual effects and choreographies. She also achieved great success with her tenth electro-dance infused album Diva, released on 11 June 2012. Her second Belgrade concert - Viva la Diva Show was held in Ušće, June 2013 in front of 40,000 fans. Due to technical issues and media backlash the concert was seen as a failure and Karleuša withdrew from the public for some time. Same year she was cited as youths biggest influence after Novak Djoković.

Karleuša ended her haitus in 2015 and became a judge on Zvezde Granda, attracting high ratings to the show. Same year she fameously accused Kim Kardashian of copying her fashion style and was featured on The Wendy Williams Show showing this time that Beyoncé was wearing very similar looks that Karleuša had worn previously. The following year Kardashian wrote about Karleuša in her Woman Crush Wednesday column, saying that she heard of Jelena only after the media allegations and that she loves "her bold sense of style". In the 2015 Academy Award-winning documentary about Amy Winehouse scenes from Jelena's 2013 concert were falsely used as ones of Winehouse's last Belgrade concert. Karleuša initially planned to sue the creators but eventually gave up due to respect of the late singer. In the summer of 2016 she had a guest performance at Vodafone Park in Istanbul after her husband's team, Besiktas J.K. had won the national championship. She then announced her upcoming album by performing two duets with Aca Lukas and Azis in the live finale of Zvezde Granda in June 2017. At the beginning of 2018 Karleuša was a first-row guest at the Versace runway show during the Milan Fashion Week, invited by Donatella herself. In late December, Karleuša, along side trap performer Surreal, was featured on 'Marihuana' (Marijuana) by Serbian musician Miligram. The urban collaboration was criticised due to Miligram's pop-folk past and was seen as "desperate try to keep up to date", despite being praised for the sections of two featured artists. In late January, Karleuša performed her single 'LaJK' (Like) featuring Serbian rapper Gazda Paja at 2019 Music Awards Ceremony.