Vesna Pisarović

Vesna Pisarović (born 9 April 1978) is a Croatian singer-songwriter known for her journey from pop music stardom to jazz artistry. She rose to fame in the early 2000s with a string of pop hits and represented Croatia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2002. In later years, she reinvented herself as a jazz vocalist, showcasing remarkable versatility. 

Early Life and Musical Education

Vesna Pisarović was born in Brčko (then Yugoslavia) and grew up in Požega, Croatia. She attended music school as a child, learning flute and singing in local choirs. In the mid-1990s, she moved to Zagreb to attend university and continued to nurture her musical talents. While studying at the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, she began performing in clubs and writing her own songs. In 1997, a breakthrough came at the Zadarfest music festival, where she met songwriter Milana Vlaović. Vlaović soon started composing songs for Pisarović, paving the way for Vesna’s pop music career.

Rise to Pop Stardom

Pisarović launched her professional pop career in 2000 with her debut album Da znaš. It quickly kicked off a streak of successful releases. By the early 2000s, she had become one of the most popular female singers in Croatia and neighboring countries. Her catchy melodies and emotive lyrics resonated with a wide audience, and she released five hit pop albums between 2000 and 2005. Pisarović’s songs topped charts and made her a household name in Croatian pop music.

Eurovision Song Contest Highlights

In 2002, Vesna Pisarović’s growing fame brought her to the international Eurovision stage. She won Croatia’s national selection Dora that year, earning the right to represent her country. At the Eurovision Song Contest 2002, she performed the pop song “Everything I Want” and finished 11th in the final, gaining wider European exposure. She also showed her songwriting talent at Eurovision: Pisarović wrote the song “In The Disco” for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s entry in 2004, performed by Deen. After her Eurovision experiences, she continued to release pop music in Croatia. However, by the mid-2000s, Pisarović felt the urge to explore a new musical direction.

Transition to Jazz and Reinvention

In the mid-2000s, Pisarović stepped away from pop to immerse herself in jazz. She went on an indefinite hiatus from pop to study music at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, and later moved to Berlin to join its vibrant jazz scene. Immersed in avant-garde jazz circles, she embraced experimental sounds and reinvented her style. In 2012, Pisarović debuted as a jazz recording artist with the album With Suspicious Minds. Released on a German jazz label, this album featured inventive jazz interpretations of Elvis Presley songs; a bold departure from her pop repertoire that highlighted her versatility.

Jazz Career and Current Work

Vesna Pisarović continued to develop her jazz career with new projects. Her 2016 album Naša velika pjesmarica (Our Great Songbook) featured jazz versions of classic Yugoslav songs, and her 2019 album Petit Standard offered intimate takes on jazz standards. These releases, along with frequent performances at jazz festivals in Croatia and Germany, solidified her reputation in the jazz community.

Most recently, in 2025, Pisarović unveiled an ambitious project with the album Poravna. This avant-garde record reimagines traditional Bosnian sevdah folk songs through the lens of experimental jazz. On Poravna, she deconstructs familiar sevdah melodies and infuses them with improvisation and modern dissonance, creating an “uneasy beauty” in sound. This innovative release extends the artistic evolution she has pursued over the past decade in free jazz and improvised music. Today, Vesna Pisarović is celebrated for successfully bridging the worlds of pop and jazz.