Operacija trijumf Operacija trijumf, the Balkan version of
Fame Academy, began on 29 September 2008. The contestants include young singers from all the countries of former
SFR Yugoslavia (except
Slovenia) —
Serbia,
Croatia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Montenegro and
Macedonia. Four of sixteen contestants were
Vukašin Brajić,
Đorđe Gogov,
Nikola Paunović and
Nikola Sarić. All of them are from Serbia; Brajić was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but has lived in Serbia since his childhood. During the show, Brajić, Gogov, Paunović and Sarić were recognized as
rock musicians, and they were named the
OT Rockers. The singing professor Mirko Vukomanović, and a famous Serbian
music producer, told that Brajić and Sarić are very good guitarists, the best at the academy. Gogov and Paunović do not play any instruments, but were noticed by their rock music affirmation and good performing. They performed merely rock songs, originally played by famous rock artists, such as
Nirvana,
Queen,
Billy Idol,
Lenny Kravitz,
Bijelo Dugme,
Deep Purple,
AC/DC,
Bryan Adams,
Bon Jovi and others. However, none of them won. Gogov was expelled at the ninth gala event, being beaten in telephone voting by Brajić. Paunović was expelled at the tenth gala event, losing to Croatian
Ana Bebić. Sarić was expelled at the eleventh gala event, losing to Brajić. Brajić was the finalist of the show. One of the
OT jury members, Croatian musician
Tonči Huljić, said he sees Brajić, Gogov, Paunović and Sarić in a rock band. However, none of the future band members thought that was a good idea, except Paunović, all of them wanted a solo career. After the ending of
Operacija trijumf, almost all the contestants expressed a will to take part in the
Eurovision Song Contest; Brajić, Gogov, Paunović and Sarić were finally united in a rock band, and confirmed they are taking part in the
Beovizija 2009.
Present In January 2009, the group was officially formed. In the band's interview for
Blic magazine (published on 17 February 2009), Gogov said that, in the beginning, only Paunović was for the band, but that the rest of them soon changed their minds. Their song, "Blagoslov za kraj", was written and produced by
Universal Music. The band said, in their interview for
Blic magazine (17 February 2009, issue), that they have become great friends and they are happy to be together in a band. Brajić said that the audience should not expect a
boy band such as the
Backstreet Boys, but a
rock band. The OT Band was an opening act at the concert of
James Blunt in
Belgrade == Discography ==