Singing Corby MOT garage owner wins over judges of TV talent show in Serbia

By day he makes a living as a mechanic and MOT garage owner in Corby – but by night a dad-of-three has been wowing audiences and, most importantly, the judges of a hit TV talent show.

Growing up in Corby, singer-songwriter Željko ‘Zakk’ Trbojević has never forgotten his Balkan roots – he was born in Croatia and moved to England as a ten-year-old.

Although having a trade, self-confessed grunge and rock and roll fan Zakk was encouraged by his late father Zarko to follow his dreams of a music career.

He’s now one step closer to achieving that dream after breezing through to the quarter-finals of hit Serbian talent show ‘Zvezda Granda’ – a mix between The Voice and X-Factor.

Zakk said: “It’s been quite emotional. My old man passed away last year. He always said I was good enough. After I did my mechanic’s course, he encouraged me to go back to college to study music. He said go and do what you enjoy.”

After leaving Corby Community College to study as a mechanic at Tresham College – he now owns the successful M&A MOT Service Centre in Alexander Court – Zakk used other training from Northampton College to pursue another career in bands with group Blank Minds.

His love of music led him to enter Zvezda Granda online. He expected auditions to be in London but almost missed out when his invitation from the TV show’s producers saying he had been successful went into his spam.

He said: “What I thought would happen was two judges would come to London, but I didn’t read the small print and didn’t know it was in Serbia.

"I sent off a couple of clips of me singing then forgot about it. The email offering me an audition went in my spam and I thought I was too late but the organiser said we would like you in the competition.”

Commuting from the UK back to Serbia for the filming, Zakk had seven out of the eight judges fight for him to be on their team. He chose to be mentored by top music producer Aleksandar Milić Mili.

Zakk said: “I got seven out of eight votes which was bizarre because all these judges are people I used to go and see in their shows in London, Germany and Serbia. I picked my mentor Mili because he does my kind of music. I grew up here and I’ve been heavily influenced by Nirvana and Pearl Jam but I’m not allowed to sing in English because my parents are from Serbia.”

A total of 250 contestants have been whittled down to 45 with battles between singers where people can be voted off immediately, go through to the next round or sing off.

In last week’s show Zakk was voted through with the maximum six votes – mentors can’t vote in the battles.

Supported by his family wife Aleksandra, sons Stefan, eight, and Nemnja, six, and daughter Anastasia, three, Zakk would like to go all the way in the competition.

Zakk said: “They have been backstage to support me and been filmed. In the third round my boy Stefan came up to me and said ‘you’ve smashed it’.

”I would like to win the competition, to be ‘discovered’. In the last round I showed my true face. One of the judges said it’s hard to find an identity but that I had my own identity. I’ve never tried to be someone else."

He will be returning to the TV studio stage when filming begins at the end of the month. As a warm-up gig Zakk will be performing at a fundraiser for the Serbian Church in Rockingham Road in Corby on Friday, April 21.

He said: “I’ve had massive support from the Serbian community in Corby. I’ll be singing a couple of songs to help raise money for the church hall. I’m always happy to help out.”

You can watch Zvezde Granda on NET TV Plus or catch up on YouTube.