This is a fan website dedicated to the Bulgarian pop bands TONICA, TONICA SV, DOMINO, and FAMILIA TONICA. If you understand Bulgarian then check out the Bulgarian version which is rich in information, news, pictures, etc.

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IMPORTANT: On the 7th of April 2010 Georgi Naidenov (one of Tonica's members) announced that he urgently needs an expensive life-saving operation. The operation costs EUR 25,000 and he has asked all fans to help him collect the money! Details about how to donate are available in the following Facebook group:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=info&ref=nf&gid=103082196400544

Please expand the group information to read the details in English.

TONICA was formed as a band in the Bulgarian city of Burgas in 1969 by Stefan Diomov who became their producer. In 1969 Stefan Diomov had just graduated from from the National Music Academy in Sofia. In the beginning TONICA was a guitar band with a few lead singers and performed locally in Burgas.

Inspired by Ricchi e Poveri (an Italian pop band that was very popular in Bulgaria at that time), the members of TONICA made the transition to a vocal quartet. The first members of the vocal quartet TONICA were Eva Naidenova, Sia Vladowski, Georgi Naidenov, and Yakim Yakimov (later replaced by Harry Sherikyan). By 1974 they became popular nationwide and began winning a string of awards at various pop song contests in Bulgaria.

In 1975 TONICA moved to Sofia and released their first LP. The same year Harry Sherikyan left the band and was replaced by Ivan Hristov. In the following two years TONICA won two prestigious awards at the pop fest Golden Orpheus which further established their status of pop stars in Bulgaria as well as in the Socialist Bloc. In 1978 they released their second LP which was a new step in their development. The album featured the best studio musicians in Bulgaria as well as novel art design on the cover. TONICA recorded a huge number of songs in the 1970s but were able to release only two LPs because the music industry was not motivated by the market in communist Bulgaria.

TONICA achieved their huge success in extremely hard conditions behind the Iron Curtain. They were asked to perform more than 200 concerts a year in the mid 1970s while also recording songs, appearing on the National TV, preparing for pop fests, etc. It was an exciting but also an exhausting life and it worsened the atmosphere in the band by the end of the decade. In 1979 they went on a tour in post-war Vietnam. In Vietnam they faced extremely bad life and work conditions and some of them refused to perform. It was considered a strike which was not allowed by the communist government and the tour ended with a political scandal. After they returned to Bulgaria they were forced to disband. Their music was banned and never played on radio and TV until the end of the Cold War. Furthermore, most of their records and TV appearances were obliterated.

After a two year penalty, three of TONICA's members came back as DOMINO with two new band members. TONICA's original forth member, Sia Vladowski, immigrated to Canada and later settled down in the USA. DOMINO were very successful at various pop song contests. In 1985 they won four different awards at the international pop fest in Sopot, Poland, with a cover of Czesław Niemen's song Dziwny jest ten świat.

Meanwhile, TONICA's producer Stefan Diomov made a new pop band called TONICA SV with band members Vanya Kostova, Militsa Bozhinova, Ralitsa Angelova, Dragomir Dimitrov, and Theodore Shishmanov (later replaced by Emil Vassilev). They were chosen from a large number of candidates in a national contest. TONICA SV became hugely popular with their very first records. In 1982 they won both the first and the second prize in the TV contest Song of the Year. By 1985 they released three very successful albums. Again, the success came along with exhausting work and in 1986 Vanya Kostova and Stefan Diomov left the band. As a vocal quartet TONICA SV performed until 1991.

In 1994 the former members of TONICA, TONICA SV, and DOMINO got together for four reunion concerts in Burgas and Sofia. The impossible happened and TONICA got together in their cast from the 1970s with Sia Vladowski who came to Bulgaria for the rehearsals and the four concerts.

After the four concerts in 1994, some of TONICA's and TONICA SV's members formed the pop group FAMILIA TONICA and released a few LPs.

On the 6th of May 2005 TONICA's long-time dream came true. FAMILIA TONICA and their musical inspiration Ricchi e Poveri got together for a concert in Sofia. A short video from the concert is available here.

Lado Le (1976)
S. Dimitrov - Z. Petrov

Let It Be Summer (1977)
S. Dimitrov - M. Basheva

If I Caress You (1978)
S. Dimitrov - N. Kunchev

A Farewell (1975)
S. Diomov - S. Gotzov

Sea (circa 1975)
M. Ganeva - A. Yordanova

Day after Day (live, 1976)
M. Ganeva - P. Stoykov

Light (1974)
D. Mihaylov - N. Andreev
Cover of 'Sugar Baby Love' in Bulgarian
Video of this song

My Friend (1974)
S. Gotzov - K. Dragnev
Cover of 'Amazing Grace' in Bulgarian

Songs of TONICA SV from the 80s

My Girl and I (1981)
S. Diomov - V. Vulchev

Like a Dream (1981)
S. Diomov - M. Belchev - P. Slavchev

The Boy from the Barge (1981)
D. Kerelezov - N. Troshanov

Auld Lang Syne (1983)
Scottish folk song on lyrics by R. Burns 
in the Bulgarian translation by V. Svintila

If We Could (1983)
A. Yossifov - D. Damyanov - S. Marinov

Malayka (1983)
Tanzanian folk song
S. Diomov

Oh, Malyao (1983)
Portuguese folk song
S. Diomov

No Problems (circa 1987)
M. Stoyanov - H. Yotsov

Songs of DOMINO from the 80s

This Wonderful World (1985)
C. Niemen, words by E. Mihailova, arr. by K. Gyulmezov
Cover of Czesław Niemen's song 'Dziwny jest ten świat'
With this song Domino won for different awards at Sopot '85

A Window Still Alight (circa 1983)
Y. Popov - D. Kerelezov - I. Kutikov

Modern and Retro (circa 1983)
G. Naidenov