About Milan Mladenovic

Milan Mladenović (September 21, 1958 - November 5, 1994) was a Yugoslav musician best known as the frontman for Ekatarina Velika (EKV, Katarina II). He was born in Zagreb, however his father worked for the army and the family had to move a lot. After living in Sarajevo for a while, Milan's family moved to Belgrade in 1970, where he entered the circle of young people involved with the new music direction called the novi talas (new wave). Soon afterwards, he joined a band called Limunovo Drvo (The Lemon Tree) but this band did not last long. His first big work was connected with the band called Šarlo Akrobata, which also included bassist Dušan Kojić Koja (Disciplin A Kitschme) and drummer Ivan Vdović VD. Šarlo Akrobata released only one record, Bistriji ili tuplji, čovek biva kad... in July 1981 and broke up soon afterwards due to conflicts between Milan and Koja. The record is considered to be one of the best and most important albums of the Yugoslav new wave music scene. In late 1981 Milan and his former bandmate from Limunovo Drvo Dragomir Mihajlović (guitar) hooked up again to form Katarina II. In 1982 Margita Stefanović (keyboards), Bojan Pečar (bass) and Ivan Vdović joined the band. Their sound was somewhere between progressive and classic rock, similar to Simple Minds. After their self-titled album Ivica VD and Dragomir Mihajlović left the band. Since Dragomir had the license for the name Katarina II, the band was renamed Ekatarina Velika and in 1985 released an album of the same name. This album launched them to the very top of the Yugoslav music scene, where they stayed for a long time, releasing a series of successful albums. The concerts were jam packed and finally their music even made it on the state radio. In the spring of 1994, Milan recorded and released an album called Angel's Breath in Brazil together with his old friend Suba (Mitar Subotić). In August it was discovered that he had pancreatic cancer. He died on November 5 in Belgrade. Read more...