Recep Aktuğ

Recep Aktuğ — Biography

Recep Aktuğ was born on 13 May 1954 in Çeşme, İzmir, and completed his primary and secondary education in İzmir. He began making music in high school with an Anatolian pop group called Gelenek, later joined Grup Stüdyo while studying political science in Istanbul, and went on to train at the state conservatory for Turkish music. Along the way he worked in journalism, event organization and nightclub stages, and was among the founders of Arı Yapım, the production company whose first artist was Sezen Aksu.

In 1976 he founded Kısa Dalga, Turkey's first backing vocal group, and in 1978 won prizes with two compositions at the Antalya Golden Orange song contest. After winning the 1983 Turkish national selection for Eurovision, he represented Turkey in Germany alongside Çetin Alp. He released his first single in 1981 and later the albums Anı, Alışma Bana, Siyah Gül, Yaşamak and Dört. As an actor he became widely known through series such as Kurtlar Vadisi and especially as Hilmi in Aşk-ı Memnu, and he portrayed the Byzantine emperor Constantine in the 2012 film Fetih 1453. Having long suffered from COPD, he died in Istanbul on 14 January 2020 and was buried at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery.