Steven Wagner - Stevan Vagner, Podrum COLLEGIUM MELODIUM, World music museum in Belgrade, PEDJA and LJUBICA JOVICEVIC, present " JUDI - JUDI *, a * BLACK PEARLS * fabulous song.
The band was formed in 1963 in Belgrade, and was named after Tom Janic's film Black Pearls (Black Pearls) which dealt with juvenile delinquency. The band consisted of Goran Vukicevic (acoustic guitar, keyboards, accordion and harmonica), Dragan "Crunch" Jovanović (drums) and brothers Bozovic, Ivan (guitar) and Slavko (saxophone). In the beginning, the band performed without a bass guitarist, but were soon joined by the bassist and singer Vladimir Janković, also known as "Government Jet", who got his nickname ("Jet" being a transliteration for Jet) after The Shadows bass guitarist Jet Harris. The band was soon joined by the singer Radan Valčić. This lineup of the band performed until the Autumn of 1965, when they moved to rhythm and blues and started performing in the following lineup: Goran Vukicevic (guitar), Government Jet (bass guitar, vocals), Zoran Petković (rhythm guitar), Radan Valčić (vocals) and Dragan "Crunch" Jovanović (drums).
Black Pearls released their debut EP in April 1966, featuring government Jett's song "Do not Go Away", which was the result of the band's desire to be one of the first former Yugoslav bands to record their own songs instead of cover versions. The B-side featured a cover of Manfred Mann's "Pretty Flamingo", with lyrics in Serbian language entitled "Beautiful flamingo." The band won the first place on second Guitar Festival held at the Belgrade Fairground (not to be confused with Guitar Festival held in Zajecar). At the time Jovanović left the band and was replaced by John "Kića" Ljubisavljević (later the Government Jet Band member). In 1968, Valčić left the band and was replaced by a former Duke & Čavke frontman Nenad Dukic. Dukic was a band member for only three months, and provided vocals for three cover songs released on the band's second EP (the fourth song, "I'm not that" was previously recorded with Valčić). After Dukic's departure, Valčić returned to the band and remained the band's frontman until 1970, when he was replaced by the former Juniors vocalist Dragan Baletić. During 1973, the band made a break in their work due to Jet's and Baletić's army obligations.
After the Government's Jet and Baletić's return from the army, the band continued their activity without Petkovic. For a certain time the keyboardist Dragan Batalo performed with the band, but was soon replaced by the keyboardist and singer Dragan Rajičević (a former member Juniors). In October 1976, Ljubisavljević left the band due to his army obligations and was replaced by a former Blue Boys, Duke & Čavke, Gentlemen, YU group, Opus and Dah member Velibor "Boka" Bogdanovic said. Having released their only full-length studio album, Motorok, and the single "You always want everything," Dragan Baletić left the band and was replaced by a former Op Cup member Branislav "Cile" Živančević. In 1977 the band recorded a single featuring the songs "Hush Hush Maria" and "Night In Casablanca" under the name Denis. Three years later, on January 1, 1980, Black Pearls officially disbanded.
