Alan Michael (musician)

Matković was born on 20 July 1970 in Rijeka, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia to a Polish mother and a Yugoslav father.^[1] He moved to the Netherlands in his early childhood and grew up in Zandvoort, North Holland.^[2] Matković began playing piano at the age of six, and recorded his first single when he was twelve years old.^[1][2] His second single, "Is That You", was released by the record label WEA in 1987.^[1][3]

In the same year, he represented the Netherlands in the Sopot International Song Festival with the song "Romeo and Juliet", alongside Maywood with the song "Stay with Me".^[4] For his performance, he was awarded the "FIDOF Award".^[1][4] Due to his participation in the Sopot Festival, Matković gained popularity in Poland, and "Romeo and Juliet" was released on single by the Polish record label Arston [pl].^[3][4][5] One year later, he released his self-titled debut album with the Polish record label Pronit.^[1][3] The songs "Sandy" and "Dreams of Love" from this album also appeared on his second album The Winning Edge, and were released on single by CBS Records International in 1989.^[3]

Following the release of The Winning Edge, Matković was signed to the Hilversum-based record label Red Bullet [nl].^[1] In 1992, a third studio album, titled One for a While, was released.^[1][3] Despite successes in Eastern Europe, such as a gold record in Poland, Matković never broke through as a singer in the Netherlands.^[6][7] In April 1993, he featured in the television documentary Hoera, een hit ("Hooray, a hit") by the Dutch broadcaster VARA, which documented his efforts to produce a hit in his home country.^[2][7][8]

A few days before the documentary was broadcast, Matković had competed in the Nationaal Songfestival – the Dutch national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest – as one of the songwriters of the entry "Medeleven", which finished in fourth place.^[9][10] He subsequently began pursuing a career as a songwriter and founded his own recording studio, AM Studios, in Zandvoort.^[1] Between 1997 and 2005, he competed in the Nationaal Songfestival six times, winning it twice as a songwriter of the entries "One Good Reason" (1999) and "One More Night" (2003).^[11] The songs finished in 8th and 13th place in the Eurovision Song Contest, and "One More Night" received a Marcel Bezençon Award for the best entry according to previous winners of the contest.