Jacques Houdek
Jacques Houdek was born in Zagreb, Zagreb County, Croatia on April 14th, 1981 and is the Pop Singer. At the age of 43, Jacques Houdek biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 43 years old, Jacques Houdek physical status not available right now. We will update Jacques Houdek's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.
Jacques Houdek (born Željko Houdek; 14 April 1981) is a Croatian recording artist who represented Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "My Friend".
Houdek began his professional solo career in 2000 and has since published many recordings and albums out which 13 have been certified silver (5 times), gold, platinum and diamond (once).
Houdek is one of the mentors in the Croatian version of the TV talent show "The Voice".
During show's first season, he mentored winner Nina Kraljic.
Aside from Croatian, he has sung and recorded in English, Italian, German, Spanish, French, Slovene, Macedonian, and Maori language.
Early life and education
Jacques Houdek was born as Željko Houdek on 14 April 1981 in Velika Gorica. His last name is of Czech origin. After finishing elementary music school (piano department), Houdek enrolled in two high schools, music (solo singing department) and vocational hairdressing. He also attended singing lessons with professor Viktorija Badrov who wanted him to become an opera singer. After finishing high schools in 2001, he enrolled in prestigious Berklee College of Music, honing his singing in seminars in France, Greece and Italy. Houdek continued to build up his knowledge on Berklee seminars in Europe, where he had the opportunity to be mentored by Donna McElroy, a Grammy Award nominee.
Private life
Houdek is married to Brigita Krkač since 2006 with whom he has two children, daughter Sofija (b. 2006) and son David (b. 2013).
Career
Houdek's first solo performance in Zagreb, SAX, was held on February 19, 2000. He appeared on various songs as a performer. "Magic", his first album, was released in 2002 and performed at Houdek at Dora, Croatia's national competition for entry to the Eurovision Song Contest. He was discovered by maestro Zdravko ljivac, who gave him a chance to work together and publicly praised him by saying that a singer like Houdek is born about every 300 years. Houdek has signed an exclusive deal with Croatia Records, the country's top music publisher, with whom he has released 13 albums. With Duan Buan voicing the character for the dialogues, he provided Aladdin's singing voice for the Croatian dub of the Aladdin franchise in 2004.
During the 2007 parliamentary election, Houdek sang "HDZ zna" for the conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), which was at the time led by Ivo Sanader. He then appeared in the mayoral campaign of the populist Milan Bandi. In an interview with Jutarnji List, Houdek said he is apolitical and that those were just professional obligations as normal.
In January 2011, Houdek finished fourth in the finals of the Open Mic UK singing competition in London's O2 Arena. He also participated in the British TV show X Factor, where he was given the nickname "Croatian Sensation" and ranked in the top 100 candidates. Because he did not obtain a work permit in time, he was unable to continue his participation in the competition.
In February 2017, Houdek was selected to represent Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. He qualified for the final, placing eighth in the second semi-final and later 13th in the grand final with the song "My Friend."
He has appeared in the Zagreb's Gavella and Komedija theaters, as well as the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, on the tenth anniversary of his career, and has performed in a sold-out solo performance in Vain Visinski Concert Hall for five years.
Festival awards
- Bihaćki festival (2nd and 3rd award), 2004
- Melodije Kvarnera (Grand Prix), 2004
- Banjalučki festival (Best vocal performance), 2005
- Radijski festival BiH (Best Croatian performer), 2005
- Bihaćki festival (Best vocal performance), 2006
- Krapinski festival (2nd jury prize), 2007
- Radio M, BiH (Best Croatian performer), 2008
- Mostar (Grand Prix), 2009
- Budva (Best arrangement and 3rd jury prize), 2009
- Ohrid fest (1st jury prize), 2009
- HRF (Musical editors' award), 2009
- CMC festival (Most played song of the year), 2010
- Narodni radio (TOP 10 songs of 2016), 2017