Todor Proeski-Toše was born on January 25, 1981 in Prilep, as the second child of Nikola and Dominika Proeski.
He finished primary school in Krushevo, and secondary school at the Secondary School of Music in Bitola. He studies at the Faculty of Musical Arts in Skopje. From an early age, Toše has shown extraordinary vocal qualities. His talent was first noticed at the children’s festival “Golden Nightingale” in 1992, where he performed the song “my grandfather”, sung in Aromanian language and composed by Hristo Hristovski – Mularot.
He started his musical career at the “Melfest” festival in Prilep, where in 1997 he won with the performance of “Yesterday”. In the same year, he took part in “Makfest” with the composition of Goran Milosevski and Susana Grkova ” Пушти ме – Let me go”. In 1998, he performed at the Skopje Festival with the theme of Christian Gabroski “Остани до крај – Stay till the end”. The theme “Усни на усни” from the author Grigor Koprov and Ognen Nedelkovski, performed at the Ohrid festival “Ohrid troubadours” in 1998, is his first big radio hit. For that song, Toše received the second prize from the jury at this renowned festival. In November of the same year, Toše received the “Grand Prix” award at the “Eurofest” festival in Skopje for the anthology “Сонце во твоите руси коси – Sun in your blond hair” by the authors Grigor Koprov and Ognen Nedelkovski.
In February 1999, he received the prize for the discovery of the year at the first “Златна бубамара на популарноста” and caused a real delirium among the audience at the Universal Hall. In the same year, a few months later, at the Skopje festival, Toše sings his third big hit “Твоите бакнежи на моите бели кошули – Your kisses on my white shirts” by the tandem Koprov-Nedelkovski. Immediately after that, he signed his first contract with Avalon Production and soon recorded his first music video for the theme “Твоите бакнежи на моите бели кошули – Your kisses on my white shirts”. In 1999, Avalon released Toshe’s debut album “Некаде во ноќта – Somewhere in the Night”. In the summer of the same year, Toše held his first concert at „Лизгалиште – Skating place“ in Skopje. Despite the rain and bad weather, this concert remains unforgettable for his fans.
In 2000, Toše took part in the “Skopje Fest” (at which the Macedonian representative for “Eurovision” was selected) with the song “Солзи прават златен прстен – Tears make a golden ring” by the tandem Koprov – Nedelkovski. The song, despite winning the televoting, ends up taking third place, behind Karolina Gocheva and the winners XXL. During this period, he also starts recording the songs for the second album “Синот божји – Son of God”. Toshe’s second album was launched in June 2000. The album will give a number of hits in Toshe’s opus, such as “Немир” (a duet with Karolina Gocheva), “Во коси да ти спијам”, “Излажи ме” as well as “Илузија” and “Тајно моја”. Apart from Koprov and Nedelkovski, on this album Toše collaborated with Kire Kostov, Miodrag Vrchakovski, Mirjana Danailoska and others. With the theme “Тајно моја” by Kire Kostov and Ognen Nedelkovski, Toše makes the first real breakthrough in the Balkans, winning the second place at the festival “Sunčane Skale” in Herceg Novi, Montenegro.
“Тајно моја” wins the prestigious “Slavyanski Bazaar” festival in Belarus. The Serbian production company “BK Sound” buys the rights to release Toše’s album in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, which, in turn, results in the “Oscar of popularity” in the territory of the former Yugoslav republics for the year 2000.
In Macedonia, Toše won numerous awards for the albums “Некаде во ноќта – Somewhere in the night” and “Синот божји”, and according to the votes of the readers of “Vecher 3” he was declared the TV personality of the year 2001. As a student of the Music Academy, in the opera “Despina and Mr. Dox”, Toše filled the prestigious “Sava Center” in Belgrade, and the real curiosity is that during the entire concert he sings songs in the Macedonian language, while the audience simultaneously sings with him. Later, also as part of the Avalon production, Toše achieved an extraordinarily successful series of five consecutive concerts at the Universal Hall in Skopje.
In the summer of 2002, after the expiration of the contract with Avalon, Toshe signed a contract with the production Final Cut. After spending some time together with his new manager Liljana Petrović, recording in a studio in Athens, the third album “Ако ме погледнеш во очи” is released in Macedonian and Serbian. A period of intensive promotion follows in Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bulgaria. In April 2003, Toše won the “Beovision” festival with the song “Чија си”, a work by Leontina and Željko Joksimović, a song that became a huge hit in most of the Balkan republics.
On the third album “Ако ме погледнеш во очи – If you look into my eyes” he collaborates with the famous Greek composer Phoebus, while Marina Tucaković appears as the author of the Serbian hits. Miodrag Vrchakovski, Ognen Nedelkovski, Maja Pavlovska and Franc are the singers. Here, Toshe also collaborates with the famous DJ Kaan, the Turkish group Harem is a guest on two songs, and the producer of the album is Manolis Vlahos. In order to improve his singing, Toshe takes lessons from maestro William Riley in New York, who is the teacher of Luciano Pavarotti. After his return, Toše held a series of humanitarian concerts throughout Macedonia.
June 29, 2004 is a very significant date in the history of Macedonian pop music. Finally, a Macedonian interpreter succeeds in making a magnificent performance. Next year, MRTV chooses Tose as the representative of the Eurovision performance held in Istanbul, Turkey. In February, with the help of television voting and a jury, the song “Ангел си ти” by the authors Jovan Jovanov and Ilija Nikolovski was chosen. The English version of the song is titled “Life”, for which the English text was written by Damjan Lazarev and Irena Djukic, representing Macedonia at “Eurosong” in Istanbul.
In a very strong competition of well-known singers and great songs, Toše represents the Republic of Macedonia worthily, manages to enter the finals and finally wins 14th place. Before the election, he becomes a favorite person among the representatives of the seventh force, after presenting his extraordinary operatic qualities at the press conferences. Film director Darko Dimitrovski recorded a very interesting video clip for the song “Life”.
In 2004, Toše released the album “Ден за нас” a double CD containing the eight songs performed at the “Eurovision” song contest and as many new compositions. On Toše’s album, he collaborated with famous Balkan authors, but also with top Macedonian names.
In 2003, Toshe was named regional ambassador of goodwill, and in September 2004, national goodwill ambassador of UNICEF, as the youngest holder of this title in the world. On that occasion, he recorded the song “За овој свет” by the authors Mladen Marković and Vesna Malinova, whose English version – “This World” became the anthem of UNICEF. In 2004, Toše received the “Mother Teresa” humanitarian award.
Concert at City Stadium in Skopje. Toše Proeski and the Final Cut production manage to turn the dream into reality. There are over 16,000 fans of Tose Proeski at City Stadium.
At the end of 2004, Toše signed a contract with Dallas Records for the release of his next album in Croatia and Slovenia. As a result of the desire to conquer new musical horizons, Toše recorded the song “Kranje vreme” together with the Slovenian Anja Rupel.
In 2005, his fifth album “Po tebe” was released throughout the territory of the former Yugoslavia. “Po tebe” is one of the most successful albums released in the Balkans, and its songs remain at the top of the charts in Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina for several weeks. The singles from this album, on the other hand, remain at the top of the music charts in these countries for months. Most of the songs are the author’s work of the tandem Miro Buljan and Antonija Shola, and the Macedonian renditions are by Vlado Janevski.
On 23 June , 2006, Toše held his second concert at the City Stadium in Skopje. More than 15 thousand visitors enjoy more than three hours of unforgettable concert of their fan. The performance is enriched by the symphony orchestra “Alea”, a dance group from Belgrade and the performance of Biljana Krstić.
His next album “Божилак” is a compilation of 14 Macedonian folk songs, with new arrangements and performed by a symphony orchestra. The songs are arranged by Ilija Pejovski, Sasha Nikolovski and Soni Petrovski. With the album “Божилак”, Toshe brings back to life the anthology Зајди, зајди”, „ Мајка на Марика думаше “, „ Бор садила мома Евгенија“, „ Се посврши сербез Донка “ , „ Море сокол пие“, „ Јовано, Јованке“ and others.
In February 2007, right after Toše’s birthday, the production Aword started filming the series dedicated to Toše’s successes in the Balkans. The series is named “Пет години Балкан”, and Ognen Nedelkovski is the screenwriter and director of the eight sequels.
In 2007, Toshe released the album “Игри без граници – Games without borders”. The songs “Цреша”, “Игри без граници”, “Среќна ли си ти” became big hits in all Balkan countries. On this album, Toše collaborates with a large Balkan auteur team: Miroslav Rus, Nikša Bratosh, Miro Buljan, Antonija Shola, Srdjan Simic-Kamba, Dejan Ivanovic, Vesna Maliniva and others.
In 2007, Toše recorded the fan anthem Македонија навива за вас”, by the author Aleksandar Mitevski, a song that is performed before every match of all Macedonian sports teams.
On October 5, 2007, the City Stadium in Skopje was filled to capacity for the third time. The concert is humanitarian and is dedicated to the revitalization of Macedonian education. More than 20,000 visitors are present at the concert.
Toše died on October 16, 2007 in a tragic traffic accident on the highway Zagreb – Lipovac, near Nova Gradishka in the Republic of Croatia, at the age of 26.
Posthumously Toše Proeski was declared an honorary citizen of Macedonia and was buried with the highest state of honors. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for the Republic of Macedonia by the President of the Republic of Macedonia, Gjorge Ivanov.