The band announced the tragic news with a touching message on their socials, dedicated to their frontman and friend of over 30 years

Aki Rahimovski, lead singer of the iconic Croatian rock band ‘Parni Valjak’, died earlier today, January 22nd 2022. He was 66 years old.

His manager Damir Osredečki confirmed that Rahimovski had suddenly fallen ill this morning and was hospitalised in Novo Mesto. He passed away shortly thereafter, reports Novi list.

The band announced the news with a touching message on their socials, dedicated to their frontman and friend of over 30 years. 

'Dear friends, with an unspeakable sadness in our hearts we inform you that today, January 22nd 2022, Aki Rahimovski passed away', says the announcement.  

Rahimovski was born in Niš, Serbia in 1955 and soon moved to Skopje, Macedonia with his family. His father was a music teacher; Aki followed in his footsteps and enrolled in music school where he studied singing and piano from the age of seven.

He formed his first two bands as a teenager, named Grupa Vakuum and Krvna braća. As stated in his biography on the official website of the band Parni Valjak, Rahimovski had always been fascinated by rock music and never missed an opportunity to get new albums on vinyl from abroad. At the age of 15, he was already an editor at Radio Skopje; a year later, he was playing with the Macedonian band Torr.

One of the most popular rock acts in ex-Yugoslavia that retained its cult status to this day, Parni Valjak was founded in 1975 when composer and guitarist Husein Hasanefendić Hus saw Aki perform at the Boom festival. Hus was captivated by Rahimovski’s stage presence and approached him with the idea to form a new band. It didn’t take long for Rahimovski to accept the offer and move to Zagreb, and so began one of the most wonderful stories of music in these parts.

In their career of 30 years, Parni valjak came out with 16 studio albums, 14 singles, five live albums, four best-of compilations and two concert DVD-s. Among them is one of the best-selling Croatian albums of all time and the best-selling live album, ‘Unplugged: Live from ZeKaEm’ (Bez struje: Uživo iz ZeKaEm-a).