1997–2005: First musical efforts and Junior Eurovision Song Contest As his parents also played musical instruments, Jelusick was introduced to music and singing at the age of three and started performing at the age of five by appearing on television, on stages, and at festivals. Jelusick wrote his first English song at the age of seven. Jelusick released his debut solo album,
No. 1, in 2003, and an English version a year later. The same year, Jelusick became the youngest nominee of the Croatian music award
Porin, at the age of twelve. Jelusick had grown up listening to
King's X,
Slash,
Whitesnake,
Dream Theater, and
Toto, among others, and he decided to change his musical direction to hard rock and metal. Jelusick does not perform them live. and played to an audience of 50,000 people. In 2014, Jelusick was awarded second place at the international festival
Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk, in Belarus. Afterward, he began experiencing problems with his voice. In September, he underwent surgery for
Reinke's edema. After the surgery, he recorded another album, this one entirely composed by him. A concept album titled
Prošao sam sve, it was released in November 2014. The record is based on the autobiographical novel
260 days by Marijan Gubina, about a ten-year-old boy who survives 260 days of imprisonment in a war camp during the 1991–1995
Croatian War of Independence. In 2015, Jelusick won four awards at the Discovery Fest in Bulgaria, one of which was for his song "Father". In 2016, he won at
New Wave in
Sochi, Russia.
Projects Animal Drive, Jelusick In 2012, Jelusick formed the
hard rock band Animal Drive, which was initially his solo band; their final lineup came together in 2015. Before Jelusick joined TSO's tour, Animal Drive recorded a few songs, and on the recommendation of TSO vocalist
Jeff Scott Soto,
Frontiers Records listened to their work and decided to sign a record deal with them in 2017. Their debut studio album,
Bite!, was released in February 2018, to critical acclaim. In April 2019, they issued a covers EP, titled
Back to the Roots, which included a rendition of Skid Row's "
Monkey Business" as its first single, and
Roxette's "
The Look" (with guest vocalist
Rosa Laricchiuta) as its second single, in May 2019. In June 2021, Animal Drive disbanded, following conflict with Frontiers Records. In November 2022, Jelusick finished a two-year-long legal battle with the label and began recording new songs with his new band, Jelusick. Their debut album,
Follow the Blind Man, was released in September 2023. In Croatia, it won a
Porin award for Best Rock Album as well as receiving nominations for Album of the Year and Best Performance by a Group with Vocals.
TSO, Stone Leaders, Lords of Black, Whitesnake, Whom Gods Destroy February 2016 was a turning point in Jelusick's music career. He later commented that until the mid-2010s, he had faced numerous difficulties within the Croatian music industry. Due to these problems, he considered ending his music career. Reportedly, his live performance of Queen's "
The Show Must Go On" was noticed by American rock band
Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO), who were searching for two male touring vocalists. After auditioning and meeting with producer
Paul O'Neill, Jelusick was chosen to join the group and took part in their 2016 tour. In 2015, American drummer
John Macaluso was looking for a singer and keyboardist for his new American-Croatian band Stone Leaders. Jelusick joined and helped record their self-titled debut album, which was eventually released in March 2019. During this time, Jelusick was also a member of the Croatian metal band the Ralph, with whom he released the album
Enter Escape in February 2017. In May 2019,
Lords of Black's Tony Hernando released a self-titled album with his solo project Restless Spirits. Jelusick sang on two of the album's tracks, "Cause I Know You're the One" and "Lost Time (Not to Be Found Again)". The record also included guest artists
Deen Castronovo,
Johnny Gioeli, and
Alessandro Del Vecchio. In late 2018, Jelusick recorded vocals and keyboards for a
George Lynch project titled Dirty Shirley, which also featured
Will Hunt on drums and Trevor Roxx on bass. The self-titled album was released in January 2020, to positive reviews. in
Helsinki, Finland, on 6 June 2022. In July 2021, Jelusick joined the British hard rock band Whitesnake as a backing vocalist and keyboardist. In March 2022, Jelusick teamed up with
Michael Romeo, performing all vocals on Romeo's solo album
War of the Worlds, Pt. 2. Matthias Mineur of the German edition of
Metal Hammer said Jelusick "lifts" the album "to an even higher level" than that of its predecessor and finished his review saying that the release "inspires on two levels, so that the listener can hardly decide which of them is the more important". In December 2023, keyboardist
Derek Sherinian and guitarist
Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal unveiled a new progressive metal project named
Whom Gods Destroy, recruiting Jelusick for vocal duties, along with
Yas Nomura on bass and
Bruno Valverde on drums. Their debut album,
Insanium, was released in March 2024.
TV appearances In 2018 and 2019, Jelusick performed in several episodes of
Hrvatska Radiotelevizija's entertainment and music program
A-strana and was the youngest mentor in the Croatian version of the BBC show
Just the Two of Us. His appearance with partner and actress
Tara Thaller won the competition. From November 2023 until January 2024, Jelusick served as a mentor on the
fourth season of
The Voice Hrvatska. ==Selected discography==