Born in Slovenia in 1937, Joze Privsék began his professional career in 1954 as a pianist for the Ljubljana Radio and TV Big Baand, which he conducted until his recent death. He was awarded a Berklee Hall of Fame scholarship in 1963 and studied with the legendary teacher Herb Pommeroy at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. On returning to Yugoslavia, he was immediately invited to become the conductor of the Ljubljana RTV Big Band. Under the pseudonyms "Jeff Conway" and "Simon Gale", Privsék composed, arranged and conducted several albums for European and American labels. During the 1980s he travelled throughout Europe working as a composer, arranger and bandleader. During the 1990s he conducted the EBU Big Band three times.
Joze Privsék was to have conducted EJYO-98, but died two weeks before the rehearsals started.