A popular Croatian singer, composer, songwriter, and pioneer of Croatian popular music.
He was nicknamed Mr. Morgen after his record "Morgen”, which sold more than one million copies. Thanks to this single, Ivo Robić became the first Croatian singer to achieve the status of an international star. In 1960, the song reached 13th place on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, surpassing singers such as Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, and others.
The singer was born in Garešnica on January 28, 1923.
His musical career eventually brought him to Opatija, and for many years he lived and worked between Zagreb and Opatija.
He married his wife Marta in April 1946, and they remained together for the rest of his life.
From 1950 until almost the end of the 1980s, Robić performed on the terrace of Hotel Kvarner in Opatija, which became his trademark.
During the 1960s, on a seaside plot in Ičići, Ivo and Marta built the Robić family summer residence. The house, recognizable for its blue shutters, also became known as the motif on the cover of his single "Dugo toplo ljeto” ("Long Warm Summer”). It was built in the style of Californian and Los Angeles Case Study houses.
He spent the last days of his life in Ičići and passed away in the hospital in Rijeka on March 9, 2000.
Three days before his death, while on his hospital bed, the singer bequeathed the house and the land to the Archdiocese of Rijeka.
Today, the villa houses the Chapel of St. John of God.
