Vašo Patejdl became famous as a singer of Elána and a composer of hits. He died at the age of 68

Patejdl, who settled in the Czech Republic, also wrote musicals and film music. He had a number of performances planned until the end of the year, and for September 2024, Elán was preparing concerts in Prague and Bratislava for the seventieth birthdays of Patejdl and the group’s frontman Jož Ráž.

Patejdl was born on October 10, 1954 in Karlovy Vary to a Czech father and Slovak mother, but the family soon moved to Bratislava. His father was also a musician, and little Vašo got to the keyboard through violin and guitar. At the music school, he met Jož Ráž, and at the age of 14, he and other classmates founded the band Elán, which over time became probably the most popular Slovak band.

Apart from Patejdl and Ráž, the most famous lineup of Elán consisted of Juraj Farkaš, Zdeno Baláž and Ján Baláž. They released their debut and probably best-known album Ôsmy svetadiel in 1981, and Patejdl had a significant authorship on it. “It wasn’t until later records that Jož (Ráže) became the frontman, but in Elán everything was always voted on, so the number of my songs on the record was the choice of all the band members,” Patejdl said in 2021 in an interview on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the release Albums.

Patejdl, who studied composition at the Bratislava Academy of Performing Arts, but only lasted at Elán until 1985, when he left for a solo career. It must be said that it was also very successful. “There was nothing personal about it, an argument or anything like that, something just broke. The enthusiasm grew to such proportions that we played two hundred concerts in a year and it seemed too much to me. I wanted to slow down, devote more time to working in the studio, recording , but the others wanted to keep this pace going. So I left and started doing my own thing,” he said of leaving the famous band years ago.

He composed, among others, for Marika Gombitová, Heidi Janků or Richard Müller, whose hit song Po schodoch was written by him. Patejdl also created music for the film trilogy Fontána pro Zuzana or musical melodies. He returned to Elán in 1996.

“I’m trying not to get bored”

Patejdl took part in the musical The Eighth Continent presented in Prague’s Kalich Theater and presented his author’s musical Jack the Ripper on the same stage. In 2015, he wrote the music for director Alice Nellis’s fairy tale The Seven Crows, including the title song The story was worth our dream, which was sung by Marika Gombitová. The singer, who is confined to a wheelchair after a traffic accident in 1980, agrees to such cooperation only exceptionally. “I’m glad that she was persuaded and started again. I recorded the song at her home. I would be happy if it meant a new beginning for her,” said Patejdl at the time. The song was nominated for the Czech Lion 2015 film award in the best music category.

He released his last solo album Do očí in 2004, released his solo debut Boy’s Smile in 1986 and won the silver Bratislava Lyra for the title song from that album. He already received this award with the Elán group. In 2020, he recorded his first Christmas album entitled My Czechoslovak Christmas; includes duets with, for example, Heidi Janků, Pavol Hammel, Marika Gombitová, Ján Lehotský or Andrea Zimányiová.

“I would like to do another musical, but everything has been postponed due to the pandemic. I’m trying not to get bored, I’m doing a song for Beata Dubasová, I’m working with Leona Machálková and I have concerts with the backing band and singer Andrea Zimányiová. It’s a contrast to Elán, no big concerts, trucks and security guards, but smaller events where we arrive in cars and go to play. We have already arranged performances as part of summer festivals, if there will be any,” Patejdl said in 2021.

In addition, Patejdl ran a recording studio and was known as a presenter by listeners of Czech radio stations.