Zdenko Runjić, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Zdenko Runjić

Croatian songwriter

Date of Birth: 26-Oct-1942

Place of Birth: Slavonski Brod, Brod-Posavina County, Croatia

Date of Death: 27-Oct-2004

Profession: composer, songwriter

Nationality: Croatia

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio

Zdenko Runjic (26 October 1942 – 27 October 2004) was a Croatian songwriter based in Split.
In his long career, he established himself as one of the most prolific and most popular songwriters of the former Yugoslavia and Croatia. Runjic was born 1942 in Slavonski Brod, Croatia.
Many of his songs were inspired by the folk traditions of Dalmatia.
The songs became classics and Runjic helped the careers of many notable Croatian musicians such as Oliver Dragojevic, Doris Dragovic and Meri Cetinic.
He was especially successful at the prestigious Split Music Festival.
He wrote almost 700 songs which sold several million copies in both albums and singles.
More than 200 songs were written for Dragojevic alone.
He was also a successful businessman and music producer.
He owned a record company called Skalinada which became one of the most prominent record companies of Croatia. In 1993, following the dispute with the Split Music Festival organisers, he founded the rival music festival called Melodije Hrvatskog Jadrana (Melodies of the Croatian Adriatic) and it soon became the key music festival of the country.
On 27 October 2004, Runjic died in Krapinske Toplice from a stroke while recovering from a heart attack.