Donna Ares

Azra Kolaković (; 1 January 1977 – 2 October 2017), known professionally as Donna Ares, was a Bosnian singer-songwriter and musician. Dubbed the "Queen of the Balkan Party" (Bosnian: Kraljica Balkan žurke), she was one of Bosnia and Herzegovina's most commercially successful recording artists of the late 1990s and 2000s. During a career spanning nearly two decades, she released six studio albums and numerous hit singles, including "Sviraj nešto narodno" (with Halid Bešlić), "Ubila me tvoja nevjera", "To mi nije trebalo", "Idi, idi moja vilo", and "Suze moje plaču za oboje".

In addition to performing, Ares wrote and composed most of her own material, played several musical instruments, directed many of her music videos, designed her album artwork, and pursued painting.

In October 2014, Ares was diagnosed with metastatic cervical cancer. She continued recording music and performing while undergoing treatment and publicly documented her experience with the disease. In 2015, she published the autobiography Soba za nikoga ("A Room for Nobody"), describing her battle with cancer. The same year, she organized a charity concert at Sarajevo's Zetra Olympic Hall, with proceeds benefiting cancer patients through the Donna Ares Foundation.

Following several years of treatment in Bosnia and Denmark, Ares died in Bihać on 2 October 2017 at the age of 40. She remains one of Bosnia and Herzegovina's most prominent female recording artists and is remembered both for her musical career and for raising public awareness of cancer.

Early life Azra Kolaković was born in Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina, then part of the SFR Yugoslavia, to Bosniak parents, mother Ajka , a piano teacher who works at a music school, and father Osman Kolaković (1944–2006), a pop-rock guitarist. She has a younger sister, Alma Tatlić .

She began engaging with music as a child. She played the piano and, already in her childhood, as an instrumentalist during her studies at the Music School, she achieved numerous successes and awards at competitions across the former Yugoslavia. As a fifteen-year-old in 1992, she became a member of the group Camino Verde, with which she performed until 1996. The Bosnian War interrupted her ambitions and dreams of becoming a pianist, and due to the impossibility of continuing her planned studies in Vienna, she completely abandoned classical music and replaced it with commercial pop music. She made her first public appearance under the stage name Donna Ares at Dora 1997, 's selection for the Eurovision Song Contest thus beginning a highly successful musical career as a prominent and award-winning singer, composer, and songwriter.

Personal life

Ares was in a long-term relationship with Džavid Ljubovci, a musician who played in her band and arranged her songs. The couple lived together in Bihać. Two months before her death, she posted a crossed-out photo of the couple on Instagram with the caption "It's over, and I'm not sorry", which was widely interpreted as the end of their nearly 20-year relationship.

Ares had been feeling fatigued and had lost a significant amount of weight several months before being hospitalized in October 2014. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer with metastases.

In 2016, she moved to Denmark in the hope of recovering and starting a completely different life away from the public eye. In April 2017, Danish doctors informed her that she had approximately six months to live. After that, Ares returned to her hometown of Bihać, where she spent the remainder of her life with her mother and closest family members.

She died on 2 October 2017 while in a coma. She was buried on 4 October 2017 at the Humci cemetery in Bihać, next to her father, Osman Kolaković, who had died in 2006.

Following her funeral, Ares's burial, which did not follow traditional religious customs, drew criticism from some social media users.

Philanthropy In February 2015, Ares founded the humanitarian organization Donna Ares Foundation with the aim of providing assistance to individuals suffering from cancer and other malignant diseases in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The foundation organized various activities, including charity dinners and the sale of handmade items, to raise funds for patients' treatment. All proceeds from a concert held at Sarajevo’s Zetra Olympic Hall on 16 April 2015 were donated to the foundation’s account. Due to personal reasons, Donna decided to discontinue the foundation in February 2016.

Discography Studio albums Ti me više ne voliš (1998) Čuvaj se, dušo, ja sam tatin sin (2002) Jackpot (2004) Nemam razloga za strah (2006) Fantastična (2009) Povratka nema (2011)

Non-album singles 1997: “Zadnja noć” 2012: "Nema više" 2013: “Ko je jači” (Guest appearance on Soda Band song) 2013: “Obala suza” (Guest appearance on Derviš Eljazović’s song) 2013: “Žena zmaj” (feat. MC Sjena) 2013: “Godina Nova, a pjesme stare” 2014: “Suze moje plaču za oboje” 2014: “Señorita” (Guest appearance on Ady Ljubovci's song feat. MC Sjena) 2015: “Kreni! (Maslačak)” (feat. MC Sjena)

Live albums Live Mix I (Po želji!) (2000) Live Mix II (Sviraj nešto narodno) (2001) Live Mix III (2003) Donna Ares & Prijatelji (Live at Zetra, Sarajevo) (2015)

Compilation albums Megamix (2003) Nemoj da pogađam (2003) Best of Donna Ares (To mi nije trebalo) (2006) Deset godina sa vama (Live) (2007) The Best of Donna Ares (Želim da te gledam) (2010)

Video albums The Best of Donna Ares (1997-2006) (Video Collection) (2006)

Videography

Filmography