Anica Milenkovic on Life in America: I Drive a Truck
The Juzni Vetar singer revealed what she really does in America, hauling mail and working in transport, and returned to Belgrade for the legendary group's concert.
- Anica Milenkovic revealed she works in transport in America and that she hauled mail.
- The singer said many women drive trucks over there and that anyone willing to work, works.
- She returned to Belgrade for the Juzni Vetar concert, the group that made her a star.
- Her hit "Na lancicu ime tvoje" was, she says, originally meant for Dragana Mirkovic.
Anica Milenkovic, one of the best-known faces of the 1990s group Juzni Vetar, returned to Belgrade for the band’s concert and, for the first time, spoke plainly about what she actually does in America. The singer who once filled concert halls revealed that across the ocean she took on all kinds of jobs, including some the local entertainment scene rarely talks about openly.
“I hauled mail,” Anica said simply, describing a transport job that, she explains, is a little lighter than driving a full big rig but still physically demanding. She did all of it, she stresses, for her two children, to give them an education and a quiet life far from the stage that made her famous.
”Do you know how many women drive trucks up there?”
Asked about the hard work, Anica answered with a question that sounded almost like a challenge. “Do you know how many women drive trucks up there?” she said, adding that in America “everything gets done, whoever wants to work, works.” For her it was nothing to be ashamed of, but proof that you do not pick and choose jobs when you are building a life from scratch in a foreign country.
The singer dismissed rumors that a wealthy backer or some hidden luxury stands behind her. She insisted no one funds her and that everything she has she earned through her own work. “My life there is stable because of the two of them, I did everything,” she said, at peace with the fact that glamour and hard labor sometimes go hand in hand.
Still, she never fully gave up singing. She kept performing at festivals and weddings, because music, she says, remained her first love. “Wherever I go, I am what I am. I love to sing and that is great for me,” Anica said.
A hit that was meant for Dragana Mirkovic
Anica also surprised fans with the story of the song that defined her. She revealed that her biggest hit, “Na lancicu ime tvoje,” was originally meant for Dragana Mirkovic, another former Juzni Vetar singer. “That song would have been hers, it was meant for her,” she said, explaining that Mirkovic’s departure from the group opened the door for her to record the number that brought her the most fame.
Her return to the stage and the Juzni Vetar concert feel, for many fans, like a journey back in time to an era when the group was synonymous with folk music. Today Anica lives between two worlds, transport routes in America and the stage in Serbia, and she seems to handle both without any hang-ups.
What surprises you more, what Anica does in America or her admission that her biggest hit was originally meant for another singer?
