Mate "Mišo" Kovač (; born 16 July 1941) is a Croatian recording artist. He is the best selling artist from Croatia, with well over 20 million records, cassettes and compact discs sold to date, and is often regarded as one of the most popular musical performers from Southeastern Europe. Early life Kovač was born in Šibenik during the Italian occupation of Dalmatia in the World War II as the second child of Zrinka and Jakov Kovač. His mother was originally from the island of Vrgada, and his father was from the Škopinac district of Šibenik. Mišo grew up in a family with his brother Ratko and sister Blanka. As a child, he grew up in a street in Šibenik's Varoš, where musicians Vice Vukov and Arsen Dedić lived at the same time. As a young man, he practiced football as a goalkeeper and started playing for the junior team of HNK Šibenik, dreaming of a professional football career in Hajduk Split, which he was also a fan of, often traveling by boat from Šibenik to Split for matches. He was receiving defeats of his team very emotionally. Hearing the performances of the Šibenik-based singer Ljubo Lučev, 16-year-old Kovač is slowly giving up football and dedicating himself to music. He listened to popular Italian performers such as Luciano Tajoli, Tony Dellag and Adriano Celentano and the American Johnnie Ray. He finished industrial high school, learning the trade of upholsterer. In 1961, at the Prvi glas Šibenika (First Voice of Šibenik) competition, he shared the title of the best with Mirko Vukšić, the future guitarist of the group Mi, and chose the single by Elvis Presley for the award. He served his military service in the Yugoslav People's Army in Belgrade, where he sang on Saturday nights, entertaining conscripts and friends. After completing his military service, he arrived in Zagreb, where he sang to students and lived in the student center and cafes. Musical career Beginnings At one talent competition in Karlovac, with the song "I Can't Stop Loving You" by Ray Charles, he experienced great success and was soon noticed by music producers. He had his first impromptu performance with the Alfons Vučer ensemble in Zagreb's city cafe in the autumn of 1964, and after the consent of editor-in-chief Pero Gotovac, he received a contract to record his first record with Jugoton, a translation of "I Can't Stop Loving You" by