his idol Ray Charles. The record was a success and in the summer of 1965 Mišo performed at the Melodije Jadrana (Melodies of the Adriatic) in Split with three performances. Despite the disappointing performance, new records followed with silver circulations of fifty thousand copies – renditions of "Ja odlazim" (I'm Leaving), "Vrijeme plakanja" (Crying Time), "San Francisco" (original by Scott McKenzie), "Da je duži moj dan" (If My Day Was Longer), and others. The hit with which he established himself as a renowned performer was the song "Više se nećeš vratiti" (You Won't Return Again), the winning song from the popular Sarajevo festival Vaš šlager sezone (Your Schlager of the Season) (1969), the work of the then young composer and lyricist Đorđe Novković. The single sold 183,987 copies, the second best-selling record by Jugoton that year. In 1969, he sold a total of five records in 252,905 copies, making him Jugoton's best-selling singer. The collaboration with Novković marked almost the entire Kovač's oeuvre and continued until Novković's sudden death in 2007. In 1971, he won the Split Festival with the song "Proplakat će zora" (The Dawn Will Start Weeping) by Stjepan Mihaljinec and Drago Britvić, which sold more than 300,000 copies, which definitely established him on the throne of the most popular singer in Yugoslavia. In two days he won five awards, and in the middle of the Croatian Spring, he paid the proceeds from the sale of the plaque for the construction of the Zagreb-Split highway. In 1971, he almost died in a car accident near Zadar. His car was completely smashed, and as he left a scar above his upper lip, during his recovery, Mišo decided to let go of his mustache, which will later become his trademark. The peak of popularity In 1972, he attended an Elvis Presley concert at New York's Madison Square Garden, and Elvis' performance of Frank Sinatra's "My Way" standard made a great impression on him. In 1974, he recorded an album of klapa and folk songs "Oj ti dušo duše moje" (Hey You, the Soul of My Soul) with Klapa Šibenik. The song "Drugi joj raspliće kosu, a ja je volim" (The Other Man Unravels Her Hair, and I Love Her) also became popular. In 1975, with the song "Ostala si uvijek ista" (You've Always Stayed the Same), after his recognition as the best in his career, he performed at the Jugoslovenski