Branimir Štulić

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Yugoslav singer-songwriter and author

title: "Branimir Štulić" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1953-births", "living-people", "croatian-expatriates-in-the-netherlands", "croatian-rock-singers", "croatian-rock-guitarists", "yugoslav-expatriates-in-the-netherlands", "20th-century-croatian-male-singers", "yugoslav-male-singers", "people-from-houten", "singers-from-skopje", "musicians-from-zagreb"] description: "Yugoslav singer-songwriter and author" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branimir_Štulić" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Yugoslav singer-songwriter and author ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]

Field	Value
name	Branimir Štulić
alias	Johnny Štulić
birth_date
birth_place	Skopje, PR Macedonia, Yugoslavia
instrument
genre	Rock
years_active	1977–present
label
past_member_of	Azra
::

Early life

Štulić was born on April 11, 1953, in Skopje, where his mother Slavica (née Milovac) and father Ivan Štulić–an officer in the Yugoslav People's Army–were stationed at the time. His paternal Croatian family originates from Nin, belonging to one of the town's oldest families. His family background is ethnic Croat but he declares himself a "Balkanian". At the age of seven, Štulić moved with his family to Jastrebarsko. In January 1967, Štulić moved to Zagreb, where he attended high school and later studied phonetics and history at the University of Zagreb's Faculty of Philosophy for two years before dropping out.

Music career

Main article: Azra (band)

He began his musical career with a band named "Balkan Sevdah band", performing his own songs, as well as covers of The Beatles and folk music. The name of the band was changed to Azra in 1977. The initial line up, which included Jura Stublić, Marino Pelajić and Mladen Juričić, soon dissolved, and the other members formed another popular band, Film. During the 1980s, Azra became one of the most prominent and influential musical acts in Yugoslavia. The time spent in Azra brought Štulić widespread fame in Yugoslavia, as well as a rabid and devoted youth following – Štulić often used his music as commentary directed towards the social and political conditions in Socialist Yugoslavia.

He has been living in the Netherlands since 1986. From 1989, he performed under his name with live support of "Sevdah Shuttle Band", and released the solo studio albums Balkanska rapsodija (1989) and Balegari ne vjeruju sreći (1990). When it became obvious to him that Yugoslavia would collapse, in 1991 Štulić recorded the album Sevdah za Paulu Horvat (released in 1995) and the documentary Das ist Johnny, which featured a view from the window of Johnny's Sarajevo hotel room, with him concluding that "soon all would burn." His alleged last visit to the territory was in 1995 in Belgrade, where he produced the album Anali and promoted the book Božanska Ilijada.

In the wake of the Yugoslav Wars, Štulić frequently expressed his disapproval of separatism and was a fervent believer of Yugoslavism and "brotherhood and unity". He commented: "I have no passport, no money and no place to go back to. I had a Yugoslav one and it expired. Yugoslavia is no more, it's the same as when you are born and you are told: this is your father, this is your mother, because, according to Homer, no one knows, when they are born, who gave birth to them, at least for the first three years. And now I do not have my parents and that's why I'm happy". After most Yugoslav Wars ended in 1995, Štulić recorded two solo albums, both released in Belgrade, Serbia, FR Yugoslavia, with the last, Blase, in 1997.

Life in the Netherlands

In 2005 he published an autobiography called Smijurija u mjerama, with mixed to positive reception. Hrvoje Horvat, a Croatian journalist, wrote a biography of Johnny Štulić titled Fantom slobode ("The Phantom of Freedom"), published in 2006. Due to Štulić's immense popularity in former Yugoslavia, the book was an immediate commercial success. However, it was also heavily criticized by many literary critics, and even Štulić himself, for its occasionally poor writing quality and alleged misinterpretation of facts. Ines Pletikos directed a documentary film Kad Miki kaže da se boji (2004), and Kruno Petrinović wrote a book, Prilozi za biografiju Johnnyja B. Štulića (2006), about the heroes of Johnny's poems.

Today, Štulić lives a modest and ascetic lifestyle in Houten, Netherlands, with wife Josephine Grundmeiyer. He typically does not give interviews and is very protective of his privacy. He states he has no interest in going back to his rock career, though he has since recorded and posted over 600 traditional songs, hit covers and some original material on YouTube. He also worked on a dozen Serbo-Croatian translations of ancient and medieval works.

In 2012 he initiated a lawsuit against Croatia Records from Zagreb, the direct successor of Jugoton, over royalty rights, as well book publisher from Belgrade, for copyright infringement. In revolt to the statements made by music editor from the Croatia Records and former Jugoton, Štulić stated that Azra is not a Croatian band. About appearing in Croatia or Serbia, he said that he does not want to perform in "occupied territories", referring to the successor states that contributed to the breakup of Yugoslavia. He saw himself as Yugoslav and stated that Yugoslavia is his only country of origin. Štulić states he sees no reason to return to the region, as he "went as far away as possible from people who suddenly wanted to kill each other". Upon being asked about visiting Croatia or Serbia, he stated he could not due to not possessing a passport and that he has no interest in registering for one.

Discography

Balkanska rapsodija (1989, Jugoton)
Balegari ne vjeruju sreći (1990, Jugoton)
Sevdah za Paulu Horvat (1991, Komuna)
Anali (1995, Komuna)
Blase (1997, Hi-Fi Centar)
splet (2021, self-released)
kavern (2022, self-released)

References

Dragan Markovina. (September 11, 2015). "Ulomak iz knjige Povijest poraženih: Štulić bez domovine". Stav!.
Marko Dunatov. (September 26, 2009). "Kad je Johnny bio mlad". Zadarski list.
Vjekoslav Perica. (2014). "Post-Yugoslavia: New Cultural and Political Perspectives". Palgrave Macmillan UK.
"VL Biografije: Branimir Johnny Štulić". Večernji list.
Marija Knežević. (September 18, 2009). "Branu ću nagovoriti na povratak u Hrvatsku!". Zadarski list.
Maštrović, Ljubomir. (1955). "Ninski govor". Institute for Historical Sciences of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zadar.
"Branimir Štulić". Croatia Records.
Boris Stromar. (2005-10-27). "Branimir Johnny Štulić - Razmišljam o povratku". RiRock.com.
Igor 'Yuri' Jurilj. (2009-04-18). "Branimir Johnny Štulić: "Smijurija u mjerama"". Muzika.hr.
Igor Vujičić. (2005-12-30). "Hrvoje Horvat: "Fantom slobode - Biografija Johnnyja B. Štulića"". Muzika.hr.
Lana Bunjevac. (2006-02-21). "''Ines Pletikos: "Kad Miki kaže da se boji"''". Muzika.hr.
Lana Bunjevac. (2006-05-07). "Kruno Petrinović: "Prilozi za biografiju Johnnyja B. Štulića"". Muzika.hr.
Kristina Bosno. (2012-08-07). "''Štulić: Živim asketski i pišem pjesme, ali neću izdati album''". [[Večernji list]].
(2008-12-29). "U međuvremenu je Branimir Štulić pripremio dvanaest novih knjiga". Vreme.
(2012-02-25). "Branimir Štulić ekskluzivno za Index: Najveća pljačka u povijesti Rock'n'Rolla". Index.
(2012-09-30). "Džoni Štulić tuži izdavačku kuću zbog autorskih prava". Novosti.
(April 27, 2016). "Štulić uzvratio Škarici: Azra sam ja i Azra nije hrvatski bend". [[Slobodna Dalmacija]].
Rosić, Branko. (May 6, 2016). "Kako je Džoni Štulić postao Srbin". [[Nedeljnik]].
Županić, Sergej. (May 11, 2017). "Štulić na odlasku: 'Gadite mi se svi!'". [[24sata (Croatia).
(April 11, 2009). "Отимање о Џонија". [[Politika]].
Andrea Belin. (October 15, 2009). "Johnny Štulić: Ne želim više svirati u Hrvatskoj jer je okupirana". [[Nacional (weekly).
(November 7, 2005). "Johnny Štulić: Hrvatsku putovnicu ne želim ni u ludilu". [[Index.hr]].

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