Želimir "Željko" Bebek (born 16 December 1945) is a Bosnian and Croatian vocalist and musician most notable for being the lead singer of former Yugoslav rock band Bijelo Dugme from 1974 to 1984. He also has a successful career as a solo artist. Early years Bebek was born in Sarajevo, PR Bosnia and Herzegovina, FPR Yugoslavia to Bosnian Croat parents Zvonimir and Katarina. He showed an early interest in music, entertaining his mother's house guests by singing songs he heard on the radio. He also experimented with harmonica, but abandoned it in third grade of primary school as he wanted to play guitar and sing along. His teacher, however, discouraged such intentions so Željko ended up playing mandolin instead. He soon became the school's best mandolin player and was allowed to play guitar as a reward. At age sixteen, Bebek began taking the stage at Eho 61, an open mic club-like school activity for the musically inclined students of Sarajevo's Second Gymnasium. A couple of years earlier, the same stage saw a performance by teenage Kornelije Kovač who would later also go on to become a famous musician and composer. Bebek's next musical activity came in a nameless band with Šento Borovčanin and the Redžić brothers – Fadil and Zoran. Bebek carried on playing with the band until Fadil Redžić left to join Indexi. Career Kodeksi In 1965, Eduard "Edo" Bogeljić invited twenty-year-old Bebek to join a cover band he founded called Kodeksi that also featured Ismeta Dervoz on backing vocals and Luciano Paganotto on drums. Bebek spent several years singing and playing rhythm guitar with the band, helping them become quite prominent locally in the city of Sarajevo. As Kodeksi experienced persistent problems filling the bass guitar spot, Bebek recommended eighteen-year-old Goran Bregović after seeing the teenager play with Beštije in 1969. It would be the beginning of Bebek's long professional association with Bregović that would frequently turn tumultuous. In fall 1970, after falling out with band mates during the group's stay in Italy, Bebek left Kodeksi and returned home to Sarajevo. Novi Kodeksi Shortly after getting back to Sarajevo, Bebek established Novi Kodeksi with another former Kodeksi member Edo Bogeljić. Conceptualized as a return to the original Kodeksi cover repertoire, Bogeljić's and Bebek's band gigged around Sarajevo with diminishing success as the audiences' general taste seemingly moved away from cover music; although at one point they did break