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Ana Popovic

Photo by Petra Arnold

On the Way Up

Ana Popovic was born on May 13, 1976 in the old town of Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro. Her father Milutin is a creditable guitar and bass player, always inviting friends for nightly jam sessions. In this atmosphere Ana Popvic grew up, often listening to her father’s impressive blues and soul record collection. At 15, Ana Popovic picked up her father’s guitar. In 1995 Ana Popovic formed her first band Hush with friend and guitar player Rade Popovic. In 1999 Ana Popovic formed another band in the Netherlands. The band quickly became a popular fixture on the Dutch and German blues scenes. In the same year Ana Popovic signed a record deal at Ruf records in Germany. In October 2000, Ana Popovic traveled to Memphis to record her first release for Ruf Records. Titled Hush! after her first band, the release is produced by Jim Gaines whose production credits include Santana and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Hush! was released at the beginning of 2001. Further album releases followed in 2003 and 2005. 2000 Ana Popovic joined various artists including Bernard Allison, Eric Burdon, Walter Trout, Popa Chubby, Jimmy Thackery, Taj Mahal and Buddy Miles on the Jimi Hendrix tribute CD Blue Haze. Her contribution is a version of Hendrix’ Belly Button Window. In 2002 Ana Popovic was part of the European Jimi Hendrix Tribute Tour with Walter Trout. Ana Popovic also took her European band on tour to the US for the first time. She received three nominations for the 2002 blues awards in France: "Best Singer", "Best Guitarist" and "Best Album". Together with her band she won the prestigious jazz award Jazz à Juan-Revelation 2004 in Juan Le Pins, France. The award shows recognition of Ana’s abilities in the jazz genre - another strong influence on her music. In February 2006 Ana was nominated as Blues Artist of the Year by the readers of BluesWax Magazine.

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