Toše ProeskiSix hours to heaven

Todor "Toše" Proeski was a Macedonian multi-genre singer, songwriter and actor. He was popular across the entire Balkan area and was considered a top act of

the local Macedonian music scene. He was dubbed "Elvis Presley of the Balkans" by BBC News. He died in a car crash on Zagreb–Lipovac A3 highway, near Nova

Gradiška in Croatia at the age of 26.

Following this public exposure, he was awarded for his strong vocal capabilities. This led to his rise to fame when he participated in the music festival Makfest in Štip with the song "Pusti Me" ("Let Me Go") in 1997. His fanbase quickly grew and he continued to make use of festivals, such as SkopjeFest and OhridFest, as a platform for promotion and publicity. Proeski collaborated with one of Macedonia's acclaimed lyricists and composers, Grigor Koprov, to produce some of the greatest hits of his career such as "Usni na Usni" ("Lips over Lips") and "Sonce vo Tvoite Rusi Kosi" ("Sun in Your Golden Hair"). In 1999, he released his debut album, Nekade vo Nokta (Somewhere in the Night), which contained eleven tracks. In the summer of the same year, Proeski performed his first solo concert in Skopje.

Early years Toše was born in Prilep and grew up in Kruševo as

the son of an Aromanian family. After his musical talent was discovered at the age of 12, he was chosen to perform at the popular children's song festival Zlatno Slavejče (eng.: Golden Nightingale) in Skopje, performing the song "Јаs I mојоt dеdо" in Aromanian language. This was his first public music performance; however, his successful career began in 1996 when he participated in the teenage music festival Melfest in Prilep.

Biography

After spending his time in recording studios in Athens, Greece, Proeski released his third album "Ako me Pogledneš vo Oči" ("If You Look into My Eyes") on October 2went on a tour throughout Macedonia doing intense promotion. He also went to Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Bulgaria for further promotion. Proeski won Beovizija in Belgrade on April 2003, with "Čija Si" ("To Whom Do You Belong?"), a song which became a huge hit in Macedonia and the other former Yugoslav republics. This song was due to represent Serbia and Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 but the EBU stated that too many countries wanted to enter in that year and so some would be forced to withdraw. Serbia and Montenegro (who participated as one country at the time) were one of them.

Superstardom

To improve his singing, Proeski took classes in New York from maestro William Riley, who was also coach to famous tenor, Luciano Pavarotti. When he returned, Proeski held humanitarian concerts throughout Macedonia. He was awarded with the Mother Theresa Humanitarian Award and in 2003 he became a Regional UNICEF Ambassador.

In 2004, MKTV chose Proeski to represent Macedonia at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul, Turkey, and in February, he performed eight songs, where a jury, televoting, and his own opinion chose the song. The song "Angel Si Ti" ("You're an Angel") was chosen by all three. In April, Proeski released his album "Dan ZaNas" ("A Day For Us"), which featured the eight songs from the Eurovision selection in Macedonian.

Apart from songs in Macedonian, Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian, he also recorded one song in Slovene, "Moja" ("Mine") in 2007, and one in Italian, "Aria" ("Air"), with Italian superstar, GiannaNannini. The list of artists who collaborated with Proeski includes AnjaRupel, AntonijaŠola, Bora Čorba, Karolina Gočeva, EsmaRedžepova, GiannaNannini, GocaTržan, GrigorKoprov, Jeff Beck, Tony Cetinski, ŽeljkoJoksimović and other notable musicians. Prior to his death, he was a student in his final year in the solo singing department of the Skopje Music Academy.

Proeski also established himself as a songwriter. He wrote several hits for himself including "Ima Li Dan Za Nas" ("Is There A Day For Us"), "Slušaš li" ("Are You Listening"), "Malečka" ("Little One") and "PolskoCveḱe" ("Field Flower"). In 2004, Proeski composed "Muza" ("Muse") for Martin Vučić, the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest representative for Macedonia. It became the title track for the young artist's second album. In interviews, Proeski stated that he had written over 100 songs but was waiting for the right moments to record them as they were still in demo form.

Songwriting

Toše's last concert was held on 5 October 2007 for the Primary Education Project for USAID. The concert raised tens of thousands of euros for the primary schools of Macedonia. The concert was attended by over 40,000 people and viewed all over the world.

The night before his death, Proeski gave his final interview to the Macedonian Television Station Kanal 5. He talked about his intention to finish his Musical Academy studies, his search for his soul mate, and his new album in the works.

Proeski's body arrived at midnight in Skopje by helicopter of the Macedonian army, and was transported by car to his home town of Kruševo. Grieving citizens gathered to pay their last respects at the airport and also in Macedonia Square. The Embassy of the United States of America, the USAID and the Diplomatic mission of the European Union published official statements on the death of TošeProeski. 17 October was pronounced a national day of mourning in Macedonia. The three days following his death were pronounced days of mourning in the City of Kruševo.

During the early morning of 16 October 2007, at approximately 6:20 a.m., Proeski died in a car accident on the Zagreb–Lipovac highway near Nova Gradiška, Croatia. He was a passenger along with his manager LjiljanaPetrović in a Volkswagen Touareg driven by GeorgijGeorgijevski. The Touareg crashed into the back of a truck and then into the median barrier, killing Proeski instantly, crushing the third vertebrae of his neck, although the truck sustained no damage. Proeski was asleep in the front passenger seat at the time of the crash. Of the other two passengers, only the driver suffered serious injuries (head trauma).

Death

On 5 October 2008, the anniversary of Proeski's last concert before his death a tribute concert was held in Skopje. Over twenty singers from various Balkan countries performed.

A documentary about the work of TošeProeski was released on 12 February 2009 in cinemas all over Macedonia.Another concert was held on 24 January 2010, the day before what would have been Toše's 29th birthday. Immediately after Toše Proeski's death was announced, the citizens of Skopje and people from all around Macedonia, as well as foreigners, started to gather at the Macedonia Square bringing candles, flowers and messages of condolence in his memory. Also many institutions such as schools, universities, sport clubs and business companies joined the spontaneous commemorative campaign. Similar gatherings took place in many other cities around the country, but also around the Balkans, especially in the former Yugoslav countries and the diaspora. A mourning ceremony was organized in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina near Skenderija, where around 2000 people gathered to light candles in memory of Toše Proeski.

Tribute concerts

● NekadeVoNokta (Macedonian language) (1999) ● SinotBožji (Macedonian language) (2000) ● Ako Me PoglednešVoOči (Macedonian language version) /Ako Me

Pogledaš U Oči (Serbian language version) (2002) ● Den ZaNas (Macedonian language version) /Dan ZaNas (Serbo-

Croatian language version) (2004) ● Po tebe (Macedonian language version)/PratimTe (Serbo-Croatian

language version) (2005) ● Božilak (Traditional Macedonian folk songs) (2006) ● Igribezgranici (Macedonian language version) /IgraBezGranica (Serbo-

Croatian language version) (2007) ● The Hardest Thing (English version), posthumous release (2009) ● Toseiprijatelji, posthumous release (2010) ● Tose: Poslednjipozdrav, posthumous release (2011) ● S ljubavlju od Toseta , posthumous release (2011) ● The Best Of, posthumous release (1/03/2013)  

Made by: PetarAleksovski; IX-1

Albums