Tomislav "Toma" Zdravkovià(; 20 November 1938 â 30 September 1991) was a Serbian singer-songwriter and recording artist.
ZdravkoviÃÂ has been described as a bohemian. His songs, although having the form of Serbian folk music, had the spirit of chansons. He had a characteristic baritone vocal, not too powerful but warm, resembling that of Charles Aznavour. Most of the lyrics were written by ZdravkoviÃÂ, devoted to unfortunate love, and love-suffering while drinking and singing in omnipresent kafanas. He was married four times.
Some of ZdravkoviÃÂ's most renowned songs are "Prokleta nedelja" (), "DotakâÂÂo sam dno à ¾ivota" (), "Ostala je samo uspomena" (), "Pustite me da à ¾ivim svoj à ¾ivot" (), "Dva smo sveta razliÃÂita" () and Pesme moje (My Songs).
Tomislav ZdravkoviÃÂ, nicknamed "Toma", was born in Aleksinac, and lived in PeÃÂenjevce near Leskovac in Serbia, at the time part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. His father was Duà ¡an and his mother Kosara. His parents had five children, Tomislav being one of the elder children (including his brother and fellow folk singer Novica ZdravkoviÃÂ). The family spent most of ZdravkoviÃÂ's life in poverty. There was a high rate of unemployment in his village, thus when he turned 18, he decided to look for a job as a singer in the town of Leskovac. He eventually became a singer in a kafana in Leskovac called "DuboÃÂica". Afterwards, he moved to Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina where he sang in the Hotel Bristol.
ZdravkoviÃÂ's first album was named Essagerata, released in 1964. That year, his first true love, a girl named Slavica who Toma loved, died prematurely at the age of 20 after a serious illness. Zdravkoviàwrote a song named "Buket belih ruà ¾a" (A Bouquet of White Roses), dedicated to her, which is still considered his saddest song.
In 1969 he attended the "Ilidà ¾a 1969" music festival, and won the second place with the song "Odlazi, odlazi". Later, around 100,000 copies of the album were sold. And, when Zdravkoviàwrote a song for his friend, Meho PuziÃÂ, and it sold around 500,000 copies.
In 1969, he and Silvana Armenuliàsang in the same group, and ZdravkoviÃÂ, to express his gratitude to her for helping him launch his musical career, wrote the song âÂÂà  ta ÃÂe mi à ¾ivot". The song became one of the biggest folk hits ever written in Yugoslavia and transformed ArmenuliÃÂ, and Zdravkoviàhimself, into superstars. Zdravkoviàlater published his own version of the song.
ZdravkoviÃÂ was married four times. He met his fourth wife, Gordana, in Toronto, Canada after visiting the United States and Canada in order to receive treatment for bladder cancer in 1973. With Gordana, he had one son, named Alexander.
Zdravkoviàreturned to Yugoslavia and published a song "Umoran sam od à ¾ivota" ("I am tired of life") and immediately became a best-selling artist again.
In 1982, he held his first concert in the Belgrade Dom Sindikata, after 26 years of singing. He sang his major hits like "Danka", "Ciganka" ("A little Gypsy girl"), "Prokleta nedelja" ("Damned Sunday").
He acted in the movie "Balkan Express" and in the TV series "Doktorka na selu".
In 1987, he organized a farewell tour. He held his last concert in Podgorica, Montenegro.
After 17 years of battle with prostate cancer, Toma ZdravkoviÃÂ died on Monday, 30 September 1991, aged 52, in Military Medical Academy, Belgrade.
A musical biopic of his life entitled Toma premiered at the Sarajevo Film Festival in 2021.
This is a list of all the singles, extended plays, and albums that Toma ZdravkoviÃÂ recorded during his lifetime: