Atilla Şereftuğ

Atilla Şereftuğ — Biography

Atilla Şereftuğ is a Turkish-Swiss composer, arranger and pianist born on 16 November 1950 in Istanbul. The son of a civil servant, he enrolled at the Istanbul Conservatory at the age of four and a half and gave his first concert at seven. He began performing with a band at twelve and, by fourteen, was working as pianist and arranger for singer Tülay German. After touring Europe at nineteen, he settled in Switzerland in 1974 and continued his training at the jazz conservatory in Bern.

Two of his compositions, with lyrics by Nella Martinetti, represented Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest. "Pas pour moi", performed by Daniela Simmons in 1986, placed second, while "Ne partez pas sans moi", sung by Celine Dion in 1988, gave Switzerland its first Eurovision win since 1956.

Şereftuğ married Daniela Simmons in 1991, and the couple's son Jason was born in December 1992. His brother, Faruk Şereftuğ, played bass guitar in Cem Karaca's band Apaşlar and was killed in 2003.