MICHAEL WALSH MUSIC CORRESPONDENT: Neda Ukraden the beautiful chanteuse was born on 16 August 1950). Neda is a Serbian-Croatian singer. Her professional career stretches back to 1967. Neda Ukraden was born in Glavina Donja, a village near the small Croatian town of Imotski, to Serb parents Anđelija (1924–2018) and Dušan Ukraden (1927–1997).

She lived in Imotski with her grandparents until the age of two when she relocated to Višegrad, in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. When she was in elementary school, her family moved to Sarajevo where she lived until 1992 when the Bosnian War broke out. When the war started, Neda moved to Belgrade, Serbia. Between 1992 and 1996, she rented an apartment in Vienna, Austria.

Respecting the wishes of her father, the soon-to-be highly popular singer attended the University of Sarajevo where she successfully completed degrees in Law, Philology, and the English language. Apparently, what appealed to her was vocal rather than cerebral: It was only at age 17 that she started singing. Ukraden was married to director Milan Bilbija and together they had a daughter.

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‘Singer Neda Ukraden experienced a tragedy today when her beloved mother passed away. Neda was very attached to her mother Angelija Ukraden, and today she found out that she left at the age of 92 and urgently returned to Belgrade. When Neda’s mother passed away, the chanteuse was beside herself with grief. Media reported the singer has URGENTLY returned to Belgrade, crying all the time. As we learn, Neda is emotionally very bad, and she is currently waiting for her daughter and her family to come from skiing in Belgrade.

What to say? She was my guardian angel – said Neda and started to cry: I thanked her for everything she did for me, for every tear she shed. She gave me strength all my life, it’s very difficult and I’m sorry. She was very old, but despite that, I am very sorry – Neda told us. – That was my mother, such energy, such a woman. Unbelievable – she added through tears.

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Neda also said goodbye to her mother through social networks: RIP Mother, Mother, comfort your daughter, don’t let the wound on my heart hurt tonight. Who am I going to sing this to now? My mom, my guardian angel, my Angelia is gone! Travel with the angels, she wrote.

Let’s recall that advanced Alzheimer’s disease forced the singer to place her mother in a nursing home. ‘For me, every visit to her is very sad, because she is someone who has lived and worked for me all her life, and now she is seriously ill. She was diagnosed with the most severe stage of Alzheimer’s, which is the worst stage. She absolutely doesn’t recognize me, she doesn’t know who I am, what I am, or my name. When I brought her birthday cake, she asked the staff who I was and my name. She didn’t know it was me, her daughter,’ said Neda recently. PLEASE SHARE STORIES ON SOCIAL MEDIA