Deen (born Fuad Backović 12 April 1982 in Sarajevo) is a popular singer from Bosnia and Herzegovina and national pop sensation. His stage name is Deen.
At the age of 12, Fuad Backović Deen took his first musical steps by recording his first song. The song was recorded in a musical studio called Studio Number 1 owned by PBSBiH.
In 1997, Backović became the lead singer of the Bosnian boy band Seven Up. The band released two albums, Otvori oči (Open Your Eyes) and Seven. The band enjoyed great success in Bosnia and the neighboring countries Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro. In 1998, Deen received an offer to perform for an opera choir. His vocal abilities had been noticed by the National Theater of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and he was offered the role of the lead singer for the opera choir during the production of Carmina Burana which he accepted.
Backović has been praised for his vocal abilities by Bosnia’s most respected singers such as Davorin Popović, Kemal Monteno, Hajrudin Varešanović, and many others.
He recorded the duet “Poljubi me” (Kiss Me) with the popular Croatian singer Vlatka Pokos.
In the period 2002-2009 he has been presented with nine Davorin’s (most important national music award in Bosnia and Herzegovina which bears the name of Bosnia’s most loved and most popular singer Davorin Popovic, lead singer of the band “Indexi”) in categories such as: best singer, best album, best video, etc.
In the year 2004 he was presented with the official award of Sarajevo Fashion Week for contribution to Bosnian Fashion Scene. He also became an ambassador for Special Olympic Games held in Sarajevo, appointed by the Kennedy Family, who in the same period awarded him with a special medal of honour of the Kennedy Family for his contribution and humanitarian work together with the President of the Council of Ministers Bosnia and Herzegovina Adnan Terzic.
In 2004, he was appointed with the privilege to perform the Bosnian national anthem for the first time at the ceremony for the Twentieth anniversary of the Winter Olympic Games held in Sarajevo 1984 at the Olympic Hall Zetra, where numerous special guests from the Olympic committee and great Olympic medallists from around the world were present. The ceremony was broadcasted live all over the world.
In 2004, he had the honour to open the rebuilt Old Bridge in Mostar under UNESCO, which was destroyed during the war and was enlisted at the UNESCO list of protected monuments in the world. At this occasion he had a chance to host the ceremony and sing for numerous world officials and politicians, amongst others to His Royal Highness Prince Charles Prince of Wales, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Franco Frattini and many others. In 2005, he had the honour to host the national competition for the Eurosong 2005 held in Ukraine.
In the year 2009 he was invited as a special guest to American Embassy in Sarajevo, where with his performance, the Embassy welcomed the election of the new American President – President Barack Obama, which was directly broadcasted on the CNN and also had the honour to perform for the Sarajevo Film Festival several times in a last few years.
The same year, Member of Human Rights Conference together with Marthin Luther King III and USA Embassy Sarajevo.
He was working with Aleksandra Kovač (Serbia, London, New York) winner of MTV Europien Music Award who’s been a music producer, arranger , songwriter and backing vocalist on the album “Andjeo sa greškom“.
During thirteen years as a solo performer he has made numerous music videos which were filmed in various Balkan countries. His videos were awarded with numerous music and fashion awards in ex-Yugoslavia countries and wider. All of his albums were published in countries of the region and received golden and platinum awards, and many of his singles were acknowledged as the ultimate hits according to the media and public.
Backović graduated from the prestigious „Istituto Marangoni Milano“ with a degree in Fashion Business and Brand management.
He is an active member of association of musical artists of Canton Sarajevo and also of the agency for Copyright Protection in Bosnia and Herzegovina, AMUS.
Fuad Backović Deen is the president of the assembly of the Association of the Performers and Creators, i.e the Agency for Protection of Performers Rights in BiH. He is working for “Tempo Production” from Sarajevo together with music producer Almir Ajanović.
Today, he is well recognized and acknowledged artist in his home country and Countries of Southeast Europe.
Eurovision Song Contest 2004
In 2004, Deen represented Bosnia and Herzegovina at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest with the song “In The Disco“. Deen finished in ninth place, automatically earning the competing honor for Bosnia at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest.
Eurovision Song Contest 2016
Fuad was chosen to represent Bosnia & Herzegovina (under his stage name ‘Deen’) for the second time, this time in Sweden’s capital Stockholm – on stage, he will be joined by Dalal Midhat-Talakić, Ana Rucner and Jala.
