Marko Tolja

Marko Tolja (born 3 July 1984) is a Croatian singer.

Marko Tolja
Born	(1984-07-03) 3 July 1984 (age 40) Rijeka, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia (today Croatia)
Genres	Pop
Occupations	Singer songwriter
Instruments	Vocals piano
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Aquarius Records

Music career

1984–2005: Early life and education

Marko Tolja was born on 3 July 1984 in Rijeka to Koraljka and Darko Tolja.^[1] Tolja gained his first musical experiences with his uncle Davor, who sang in the Croatian electropop group Denis & Denis.^[2] In 1995, in a duet with Lena Stojiljković, he performed at the children's festival Mikić (a children's version of the festival Melodije Istre i Kvarnera) and won the first place with the composition "Ča smo mi".^[3] During his primary school years, he also attended the Ivan Matetić Ronjgov Music School in Rijeka.^[4] During those years he performs at numerous matinees and piano recitals. From 2001 to 2006, he sang in various klapas (Klapa Luka, Klapa Volosko, Klapa Fortunal) with which he performed throughout Croatia at various klapa festivals.^[5]

2006–2008: Career beginnings

In early 2006, Tolja started working on solo career with Rijeka-based music producer Olja Dešić.^[6] His debut single "Partila je mala" was released in the summer of 2006 and competing at the 36th edition of the Melodije Istre i Kvarnera festival.^[7] "Deja Vu" was released as his second single in early and performed at Dora 2007, Croatia's national selection show to select the country's Eurovision Song Contest 2007 entry.^[8] Shortly after Dora 2007 he signed a record deal with Aquarius Records and released his debut studio album Stare dobre stvari.^[9] For the 2008 edition of the Porin Award he was nominated and won in the Best New Artist category.^[10]

2009–2010: Zvijezde pjevaju and Vrijeme briše istinu

In 2009 he appears as a competitor in the third season of Zvijezde pjevaju, the local version of the Just the Two of US series. His partner in the show was Croatian actress Kristina Krepela and they were eliminated in the semi-finals.^[11] His second studio album Vrijeme briše istinu was released on 1 May 2009.^[12] In the same year Tolja tried to represent Croatia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 but failed to reach the final of Dora 2009 with his song "Stranci".^[13]

2011–2015: Ljubav u boji and Srca otvorena

At the 2010 edition of the Porin Award, Tolja wins his second award in the Best Male Vocal Performance category.^[14] In 2010 with Tamara Loos he appears again in the show Zvijezde pjevaju where they win the second prize and in 2011 with his partner Nataša Janjić.^[15] At the end of 2011 he appears on the show Ples sa zvijezdama, the Croatian version of Dancing with the Stars and wins it with his dance partner Ana Herceg.^[16] On 11 October 2012 Tolja's third studio album Ljubav u boji was released.^[17] His first children's album Srca otvorena was released in 2014 and was nominated for a Porin award in the category Best Children's Album in 2015.^[18]

2016–present: Tišina

On 16 November 2018 Tolja released his fifth studio album Tišina.^[19] The album contains the song of the same name which became hit first top 20 by peaking at number 15 on the HR Top 40 chart.^[20] A year later, in 2019, Tolja released a collaboration with Mia Dimšić titled "Sva blaga ovog svijeta".^[21] The song peaked at number one on the Croatian airplay chart and became Tolja's first song to do so.^[22] In 2020 he score another chart topper with "Od Božića do Božića", a duet with Tonči Huljić.^[23]

Discography

Albums

• Stare dobre stvari (2007)
• Vrijeme briše istinu (2009)
• Ljubav u boji (2012)
• Srca otvorena (2014)
• Tišina (2018)

Singles

Title	Year	Peak chart positions	Album
		CRO [24]
"Bilo bi bolje"	2016	33	Tišina
"Tišina"	2018	15
"Zaplesale su sjene"		17
"Sve što nisam ja"	2019	10	Non-album singles
"Sva blaga ovog svijeta" (with Mia Dimšić)		1
"Još jedan dan"		15
"O tebi ovisan"	2020	3
"Od Božića do Božića" (with Tonči Huljić)		1
"Budi budna"	2021	14
"Nismo znali bolje"	2023	2
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

References

1. "Koncert Marka Tolje oduševio publiku i pjevača" (in Croatian). Gloria. 11 April 2010. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
2. Bojan Mušćet (10 April 2022). "Davor Tolja: Kad festival ima više od 60 godina, na njemu ima smisla predstaviti pjesmu" (in Croatian). Glazba.hr. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
3. "Melodije Istre i Kvarnera: e-monografija 1985" (in Croatian). Melody.hr. 17 July 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
4. "Koncert Marka Tolje na Zametu za Dan žena" (in Croatian). Fiuman. 27 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
5. Vanesa Begić (19 December 2019). "Veliko srce za Atletski klub Spektar: nastupili Marko Tolja i Mia Dimšić" (in Croatian). Glas Istre. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
6. Davor Žic (5 February 2018). "Marko Tolja ima novi ljetni hit – Pogledajte spot za pjesmu Zaplesale su sjene sniman u Plominu" (in Croatian). Torpedo Media. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
7. "Melodije Istre i Kvarnera: e-monografija 2006" (in Croatian). Melody.hr. 17 July 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
8. "Prvi samostalni koncert Marka Tolje" (in Croatian). Jutarnji list. 24 August 2007. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
9. Ivana Kocijan (2 December 2015). "Marko Tolja večeras u dvorani Lisinski ima koncert karijere" (in Croatian). Novi list. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
10. "Porin: Dobitnici po godinama - 2008" (in Croatian). Porin.hr. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
11. "Kristina i Marko ispali iz šoua Zvijezde pjevaju" (in Croatian). Večernji list. 18 April 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
12. "Marko Tolja objavio novi album Vrijeme briše istinu" (in Croatian). Večernji list. 1 May 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
13. "Marko Tolja pokazao kako su on i Iva Šulentić izgledali na Dori 2009" (in Croatian). Index. 12 February 2022. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
14. "Porin: Dobitnici po godinama - 2010" (in Croatian). Porin.hr. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
15. "Marko Tolja o nastupu u "Zvijezde pjevaju": Nataša Janjić se potpuno prepustila u moje ruke" (in Croatian). Index. 12 May 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
16. "Marko Tolja i Ana Herceg pobjednici "Plesa sa zvijezdama"" (in Croatian). Večernji list. 17 December 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
17. "Marko Tolja o novom album" (in Croatian). Journal. 2 November 2022. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
18. "Porin: Dobitnici po godinama - 2015" (in Croatian). Porin.hr. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
19. "Album za romantične duše: Marko Tolja – Tišina" (in Croatian). Pop Mix. 16 November 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
20. "Marko Tolja objavio novu pjesmu "Tišina" s posebnom posvetom" (in Croatian). Music Box. 18 January 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
21. ""Sva blaga ovog svijeta" - Mia Dimšić & Marko Tolja" (in Croatian). Jutarnji list. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
22. "HR Top 40: "Sva blaga ovog svijeta" Mije i Marka Tolje na tronu liste" (in Croatian). top-lista. 19 August 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
23. "HR Top 40: Imamo novi božićni hit" (in Croatian). top-lista. 21 December 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
24. Peak positions in Croatia:

    • For "Bilo bi bolje": "HR TOP 40 Week 1 2016" (in Croatian). top-lista. 11 January 2016. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
    • For "Tišina": "HR TOP 40 Week 9 2018" (in Croatian). top-lista. 4 March 2018. Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
    • For "Zaplesale su sjene": "HR TOP 40 Week 31 2018" (in Croatian). top-lista. 5 August 2018. Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
    • For "Sve što nisam ja": "HR TOP 40 Week 5 2019" (in Croatian). top-lista. 25 August 2019. Archived from the original on 8 August 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
    • For "Sva blaga ovog svijeta": "HR TOP 40 Week 34 2019" (in Croatian). top-lista. 3 February 2019. Archived from the original on 15 November 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
    • For "Još jedan dan": "HR TOP 40 Week 43 2019" (in Croatian). top-lista. 27 October 2019. Archived from the original on 15 August 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
    • For "O tebi ovisan": "HR TOP 40 Week 27 2020" (in Croatian). top-lista. 12 July 2020. Archived from the original on 12 August 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
    • For "Od Božića do Božića": "HR TOP 40 Week 51 2020" (in Croatian). top-lista. 27 December 2020. Archived from the original on 28 December 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
    • For "Budi budna": "HR TOP 40 Week 8 2021" (in Croatian). top-lista. Archived from the original on 28 February 2021. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
    • For "Nismo znali bolje" "HR TOP 40 Week 10 2023" (in Croatian). top-lista. 12 March 2023. Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2023.

External links

• Marko Tolja discography at Discogs