Ekatarina Velika

Ekatarina Velika (EKV) was a Serbian and Yugoslav new wave band that existed from 1982 to 1994. Formed by guitarist and vocalist, Milan Mladenović, after the dissolution of his former band, Šarlo Akrobata, the band’s core lineup consisted of Margita Stefanović on keyboards and Bojan Pečar on bass. They released their first album, Katarina II, (named after a love interest of Mihailović's) in 1984. After numerous line-up changes and constant touring the band released their self-titled second album in 1985, which saw the band playing outside of their native Yugoslavia for the first time. Further albums introduced a more alternative rock sound, S' vetrom uz lice (1986), and Ljubav (1987), which found the band more success internationally and paved the way for a mainstream following in the early 90s. After releasing, Samo par godina za nas, in 1989, the band released two final albums, Dum Dum (1991) and Neko nas posmatra (1993), but were forced to shelve further activities after Mladenović was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Their final show was at the Pjesma Mediterana festival on August 24, 1994, before Mladenović died later that year on November 5, in Belgrade. Ekatarina Velika remain one of the most influential acts to hail from the former Yugoslavia.