Kayahan

Kayahan — Biography

Kayahan Açar was born on 29 March 1949 in İzmir and spent his childhood and youth in Ankara before settling in Istanbul. He released his first single in 1971, and before his own breakthrough he became known for writing songs for other artists, including Nilüfer, Bilgen Bengü, Sezen Aksu and Zerrin Özer; among these, Nilüfer's recordings of Kar Taneleri, Geceler and Esmer Günler became Turkish pop classics, and Geceler won first prize at the 1986 Mediterranean Music Festival. Through the 1980s he made several unsuccessful attempts at Turkey's Eurovision selections before winning it in 1990 with Gözlerinin Hapsindeyim, finishing 17th at the contest in Zagreb. His 1991 album Yemin Ettim became a huge bestseller and marked his real rise to fame, and he continued releasing albums from Odalarda Işıksızım through to 365 Gün in 2011. In 1992 he drew a crowd of more than 160,000 to a concert in Ankara's Kızılay Square, and in 2003 he won the Altın Kelebek and MÜYAP awards for the album Ne Oldu Can. Diagnosed with soft-tissue cancer in 1990, with recurrences in 2005 and 2014, Kayahan gave a farewell concert with Nilüfer in February 2015 and died in Istanbul on 3 April 2015; President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended his funeral, and a tribute album followed with contributions from many Turkish artists.