Damir Urban is a popular croatian musician best known for his work as a singer/songwriter for Laufer and for his solo work with his band 4.

Early Years

Damir Urban was born in Rijeka, Croatia, a town that is today well known for its rock scene, where he founded his first band La Bellona as the bassist and main songwriter. It is with this band that he performed live for the first time, although little is left today of La Bellona's music. Rijeka (Fiume in Italian and Hungarian, Reka in Slovene; R(ij)eka and Fiume both mean river) is the principal seaport of Croatia, located on the Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea. ...

In 1986 Urban was part of another band as a vocalist, Laufer, one that defined the Croatian rock scene of the early 90's. Laufer released their first album, "The best of", in 1993 which spawned hits such as "Lopov Jack", "Svijet za Nas" and undoubtley their most popular song, "Budi Moja Voda". Urban wrote all of the lyrics and co-wrote most of the music. 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ...

Their seconed album, Pustinje, was released in 1994, shortley after which the band disbanded due to differences over the musical vision Laufer was to follow. Laufer's greatest hits album, Epitaph, was released via Croatia Records in 2004. 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... An epitaph (literally: on the grave in ancient Greek) is text honoring the dead, most commonly inscribed on a tombstone or plaque. ... Croatia Records is the largest record company in Croatia. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Solo Career

Damir Urban released his first solo album in 1996, entitled "Otrovna kisa" (Poisoned Rain), to critical and commercial acclaim. The album produced hits such as "Astronaut", but the highlight of his career was yet to follow. U.S. Space Shuttle astronaut Bruce McCandless II using a manned maneuvering unit. ...

In 1998 he released "Zena Dijete" (Child Women) to even greater critical and commercial acclaim, and the album spawned a string of number ones: "Mala Truba", " Odlucio sam da te Volim" and "Black Tattoo" (which features the Split hip-hop group The Beat Fleet) all recieved extensive airplay. He refused to recieve the Porin (Croatia's equivelent to a Grammy) for the album, as it was nominated for best alternative album and Urban believed his album to be a rock album, therefore, he considered he would be stealing a prize from real alternative artists. 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Split (Italian: Spalato) is the largest and most important city in Dalmatia, the administrative center of Croatias Split-Dalmatia county. ... Hip hop is a cultural movement that began among urban African American and Latino youth in Jamaica in the 1920s and has since spread around the world. ... Porins are transmembrane proteins that are large enough to facilitate passive diffusion. ... Grammy Award statuette The Grammy Awards, presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding achievements in the recording industry, is one of four major music awards shows held annually in the United States (the Billboard Music Awards, the American Music... An alternative is one of two possible choices. ...

Many Croatian rock critics including Zlatko Gall and Aleksandar Dragas consider "Zena Dijete" to be one of the best if not the best Croatian album of the 1990's.

After the tremendous success of "Zena Dijete", Urban was working on a new album entitled "Merkur", and two singles were released: "Aroma Satanica" and "Moja", who's video was banned from many Croatian television stations due to graphic depictions of homosexual sex. More than six years passed, and yet "Merkur" did not see daylight while Damir Urban wrote music for several plays. Finally, in 2004, it was announced that "Merkur" would be scrapped in favor of another album entitled "Retro" which was released that same year to mixed reviews but to commercial success. Homosexuality is a sexual orientation characterized by esthetic attraction, romantic love, or sexual desire exclusively for another of the same sex. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

"Retro" has highly controversial in that it was a concept album describing the demise of a relationship because of infidelity. In fact, many argue it describes the demise of Urban's relationship with his wife at the time.