Emil Dimitrov

At a glance

Source: Wikipedia: Emil Dimitrov¹

Life and career

Dimitrov was born on 23 December 1940. His father was the Bulgarian illusionist Fakira Miti, and his mother was Miti’s French assistant. Dimitrov studied at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia. His musical career began in 1962 with the premiere of “Arlequino”. The song placed third at the Sopot International Song Festival that year and made him a star overnight.¹

Music and releases

Dimitrov’s repertoire included 400 songs, 280 of which he composed. He released 30 albums during his lifetime. His best-known songs included “If You Have Given”, “Our Signal”, “Only One Lifetime”, “Julia”, “Arlequino” and “Letter to My Mother”. His catalogue also included “My Country, My Bulgaria”, a song that became closely associated with his career.¹

In 1970, the French record company EMI Pathé-Marconi signed Dimitrov and released his first French-language single, “L’amour c’est toi”. “My Country, My Bulgaria” was also known as “Monica”. It reportedly sold more than 500,000 copies in Germany and 100,000 in Belgium. Bulgarian communist censors initially banned it, describing it as having “bourgeois influence”.¹

Recognition and later life

“My Country, My Bulgaria” is considered an unofficial national hymn in Bulgaria. According to the American magazine Billboard, Dimitrov sold more than 40 million copies of his albums in Eastern Europe and the USSR. These reported sales figures sit alongside a substantial catalogue of songs and recordings, including works he wrote himself and songs performed by other artists.¹

Dimitrov was married twice. His son Emil was born in 1970, during his second marriage. Dimitrov died on 30 March 2005, aged 64. His work includes songs recorded by other Bulgarian performers, such as Lili Ivanova, Yordanka Hristova and Panayot Panayotov.¹