Twins Singer Sold Swiss Cars to Fund 1997 Album
A member of the group Twins has explained for the first time how their 1997 third album was financed: he and his sister Manuela imported and resold cars from Switzerland, while their parents paid for the first two.
- Nesa of the group Twins has explained for the first time how their 1997 third album was financed.
- He and his sister Manuela imported cars from Switzerland and resold them in Serbia.
- The first two albums (1993 and 1995) were paid for by their parents but flopped commercially.
- The siblings were born in Switzerland, with the family tracing its roots to the Republic of Srpska.
Nesa of the group Twins has finally put to rest a story that has followed him for three decades. In a recent interview he explained in detail, for the first time, where the money for the third album came from, the record that truly launched him and his sister Manuela onto the Serbian music scene. The answer was not the family budget but a business the two ran themselves.
For years it was said that their parents bankrolled the entire Twins career. Nesa now partly confirms that, but draws a clear line. His parents did pay for the first two albums. The third, he says, came out of their own work, in a venture that had nothing to do with music.
How the third album came to be
The story goes back to 1997. Nesa and Manuela, he says, were importing cars from Switzerland for the Serbian market and reselling them. From that price difference they raised money, and part of the profit went into recording and producing the new album.
The logic was simple. The family has roots and ties in Switzerland, both siblings were born there, so travel and sourcing were nothing new to them. Instead of asking their parents again, they decided to build the capital themselves. That album proved to be a turning point. The previous two pop-rock releases had failed to connect with audiences, while the third pushed them toward the sound and image Serbia would remember them by.
Nesa does not shy away from the truth here. He does not present himself as a self-made man who built everything from nothing, but nor as a spoiled kid handed a career on a plate. The message sits somewhere in between: family support existed, but for their most important step they earned the money themselves.
Why did their parents pay for the first two albums?
Here the answer comes down to timing and circumstance. Twins started in 1993, on a scene completely different from today’s. The first two albums were an attempt to break through, a classic case of parents investing in children who want a career in music. When those releases failed commercially, it was clear the third attempt could not follow the same model.
That is why the car pivot matters so much to their story. It was not a whim but a necessity and a calculation. When a first investment does not pay off, it is hard to ask the same people for more. Nesa and Manuela chose to take the risk on themselves.
What makes the whole detail interesting is how much it differs from the usual picture of how music careers begin. Instead of a sponsor or a powerful manager in the shadows, there are two young people driving cars across a border and working out their margins. Today, with Twins performing again and filling venues after a long break, this chapter of their biography takes on a new light.
Manuela has spoken before about how the group was formed and how they convinced the public they were twins even though they are not, so this confession fits neatly into the image of two people who learned early how to get by.
Are you surprised that one of the most recognizable Serbian bands of the 1990s earned money for an album by selling cars?
