He was born in Prokuplje to father Krsta, a farmer (1892–1968), and mother Vidosava, a housewife (1896–1971). After completing primary school in 1947, self-taught, he began playing the clarinet. In 1950 he came to Belgrade, where he started studying the English language at the Faculty of Philology. At the same time, he worked at the National Orchestra of Radio Television Belgrade, which was then led by the famous Vlastimir Pavlović Carevac. Since that year, he has launched into a successful music career. The same 1950 he passed I preparatory class at the School of Music Josip Slavenski in Belgrade, under professor Franjo Partlić, and automatically entered the second grade. He became a member of the sextet Duško Radetić in Radio Belgrade from its founding in 1951.