Edin Dervià ¡halidovià(; born 12 September 1962), known professionally as Dino Merlin (), is a Bosnian singer-songwriter and record producer. Nicknamed "The Wizard" (), he is widely regarded as one of the most prominent and commercially successful artists to have emerged from the former Yugoslavia.
Born in Sarajevo in 1962, Dino founded and led the band Merlin, one of the best-selling rock groups in Southeast Europe. Deemed a cultural icon, he has released over a dozen chart-topping albums, embarked on numerous record-breaking tours, received numerous accolades, including the prestigious Sixth of April Sarajevo Award, and authored the national anthem of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is celebrated for his distinctive voice, charismatic stage presence, and poetic songwriting.
Edin Dervià ¡halidoviàwas born on 12 September 1962, in the neighborhood of Alifakovac in Sarajevo, People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (at the time part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). His father, Abid, was a carpenter who came to Sarajevo as a teenager. His mother, Fatima (née ÃÂinjareviÃÂ), was born and raised in Sarajevo, and was a Muslim cleric. His parents divorced when he was 7 years old and he was subsequently raised by his mother.
Dervià ¡halidoviàattended Moris Moco Salom primary school (today "Edhem MulabdiÃÂ" elementary school), where he was the captain of the school's soccer, basketball, and table tennis teams. The school and its significant surroundings â Emperor's Mosque, President Tito's konak, and Hotel Nacional â influenced his later art.
Dervià ¡halidoviàenrolled at Sarajevo Technical High School. During after-school hours, he performed in a music duo with his childhood friend and keyboardist Mensur Lutvica, with whom he later established the band Merlin.
Although Dervià ¡halidoviÃÂ's mother was against the idea of her son being a musician, she helped him buy his first guitar when he was 12 years old. He penned his first song at 14 years old. Dervià ¡halidoviàwas mostly self-taught, although he did take a few lessons from an older neighbor named Mirsad. Mirsad's younger brother, Mensur Lutvica, played the keyboard and attended the same school as Dervià ¡halidoviÃÂ. They soon became friends and eventually became the founding members of the later band 'Merlin'. Lutvica began accompanying Dervià ¡halidoviàwhile performing on the streets of Sarajevo.
Dervià ¡halidoviàwas heavily influenced by the Yugoslavian musicians Bijelo Dugme, Zdravko ÃÂoliÃÂ, Kemal Monteno, and Toma ZdravkoviÃÂ, among others. He entered several music competitions covering their songs. He later became close friends with Goran BregoviÃÂ, the founder and primary songwriter of Bijelo Dugme.
After enrolling in university, Dervià ¡halidoviàformed a band with Lutvica on keyboard, Amir "Tula" Bjelanoviàon guitar, Dà ¾afer SaraÃÂeviàon drums, and Enver Milià ¡iàon bass guitar. Each of the five put a paper with their idea for a band name in a hat; the name "Merlin" was pulled and chosen as the name of the band.
After completing his first semester at university, Dervià ¡halidoviàdropped out to pursue a music career. However, he did not have enough money to rent a recording studio. During this time, he married his girlfriend Amela and worked two shifts a day at a metal factory in the suburbs of Sarajevo for a few years. It was during this time that he started writing most of the songs which would later appear on his first album.
In 1984, Dervià ¡halidoviàrented a local studio in Sarajevo owned by producer Brano LikiÃÂ. Dervià ¡halidoviàwrote all the recorded songs and paid the recording fees from his funds. He was rejected by every major record label in Sarajevo. At the same time, Dervià ¡halidoviÃÂ's private funds were only enough for 6 songs. During the recording session for the final song, a local A&R agent named Muradif Brkiàentered the studio where Dervià ¡halidoviàand Likiàwere mixing a song. After listening to the track, "Kokuzna Vremena", a couple of times, Brkiàoffered Dervià ¡halidoviàa contract with his record label Sarajevo Disk and agreed to finance the remainder of the song recordings. Merlin eventually released their first album in 1985 titled Kokuzna vremena. With the band, Dervià ¡halidoviàhas recorded 5 studio albums: Kokuzna vremena in 1985, Teà ¡ko meni sa tobom in 1986, Merlin in 1987, Neà ¡to lijepo treba da se desi in 1989, and Peta strana svijeta in 1990.
Dervià ¡halidoviàbegan his solo career under the name Dino Merlin in 1991 and has since recorded seven studio albums: Moja bogda sna in 1993, Fotografija in 1995, Sredinom in 2000, Burek in 2004, IspoÃÂetka in 2008, Hotel Nacional in 2014, and Mi in 2025.
During the Bosnian War, several members of Merlin were killed, including their long-time manager Kemal BisiÃÂ, with whom Dino was close.
Not long after the band dissolved, Dino was invited by the Bosnian state government to write the country's first-ever national anthem "Jedna si jedina". The song acted as the state's national anthem until the late 1990s. In 1993, he wrote the song "Sva bol svijeta" ("All the grief in the world") for and eventually participated in Bosnia's first Eurovision Song Contest in Millstreet in 1993. The song is about the hardships Bosnians endured during the war and calls for peace. He again participated in the Eurovision Song Contests in Jerusalem in 1999 (singing "Putnici" with Béatrice Poulot, a French singer) and in 2011 with "Love in Rewind". Dervià ¡halidoviàhas also taken part in other big European festivals, such as the Copenhagen festival in 1996 and the Turkovision Song Contest in 1997.
In 2000, Dino released his most successful album to date - Sredinom ("Through the Middle"). The album was a top-selling album in Bosnia and Herzegovina and was sold in all of the former Yugoslav republics.
The album became a classic and was the highest-selling album in the region in 30 years. Some estimates put the album sales at about 2,000,000.
The subsequent tour promoting Sredinom included over 200 concerts with a performance at the Koà ¡evo City Stadium in Sarajevo in front of an audience of about 80,000. This was the largest crowd ever to assemble in the national stadium in Bosnia's history. Dervià ¡halidoviàsubsequently performed three more times at this stadium and is the only artist ever to have filled this venue on four occasions.
After a six-year hiatus, Dino returned to the stage with his eleventh album Hotel Nacional. It was released in June 2014 and was featured in the top 10 on the Billboard World Albums list upon release due to unprecedented online sales in the region. This is the only album from Slavic-speaking Europe ever to chart on Billboard. The album featured Yoad Nevo, Richard Niles, Hüsnü à Âenlendirici, and others. 900,000 people attended The Hotel National World Tour across 4 continents. It is the largest tour ever to have been produced by an artist from Southeast Europe.
Dino released his song "Mi" in October 2020, followed by "DoÃÂi" at the start of 2021, and two more songs ("Mir svim dobrim ljudima" and "Jedan dan, jedna noÃÂ") in May.
Dino resides in his hometown of Sarajevo, in the same house and street where he was born and raised, in the neighborhood of Alifakovac. He has two children, Naida and Hamza.
Dino is an avid chess player, skier, art collector, and reader. He also owns a record label and store, Magaza, in the center of Sarajevo, in Baà ¡ÃÂarà ¡ija.
Dino is an active donor to scholarships for underprivileged children in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is a long-time member of the Hastor Foundation, the biggest organization devoted to distributing scholarships to students in the country. He sponsors over a dozen students each year and has been a member of this program since 2008.
Dino worked for five years pro bono as the honorary and de facto president of the assembly of AMUS, the main association of music artists of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was one of the founding members of the organization in 2013. In early 2018, he resigned from his position due to the lack of time to do the work.
Dino has played numerous charity concerts. During the 2014 Southeast Europe floods, his team was heavily involved in humanitarian work, distributing water, food, blankets and other provisions to the most endangered parts of Bosnia and Serbia.
In 2013, Dino was awarded the International Humanitarian Award in Urfa, Turkey.