Özlem Tekin (born November 18, 1971) is a Turkish singer and occasional actress, primarily known for her music. Though she started out in the

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

genre, her music has progressed to incorporate different styles such as

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

, pop and

Turkish folk music Turkish folk music (''Türk Halk Müziği'') is the traditional music of Turkish people living in Turkey influenced by the cultures of Anatolia and former territories in Europe and Asia. Its unique structure includes regional differences under ...

. __TOC__

Life and career

Özlem Tekin was born in California, United States into a

Turkish-American Turkish Americans ( tr, Türk Amerikalılar) or American Turks are Americans of ethnic Turkish origin. The term "Turkish Americans" can therefore refer to ethnic Turkish immigrants to the United States, as well as their American-born descend ...

family. Her father

Talat Tekin Talat or Talaat may refer to: People *Talat (given name), includes Tallat *Mehmet Ali Talat (born 1952), President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus *Talat Yaqoob Geographic designations *Talat Sao, a morning market in Vientiane, Laos ...

was a prominent

Turkologist Turkology (or Turcology or Turkic studies) is a complex of humanities sciences studying languages, history, literature, folklore, culture, and ethnology of people speaking Turkic languages and Turkic peoples in chronological and comparative conte ...

and an Altaicist at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

. The Tekins moved to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

when she was four years old. Özlem grew up in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

, where she studied classical western music at the

Hacettepe University Hacettepe University is a leading state university in Ankara, Turkey. It was established on 8 July 1967. It is ranked first among the Turkish universities by URAP in 2021. The university has two main campuses. The first campus is in the old to ...

Music Conservatory in

, specializing in the

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

. She started out as the vocalist in ''The Bad''. The Bad was an underground rock band like most other rock bands and they would perform gigs at clubs, often playing covers of other popular bands. In 1993, she met

Şebnem Ferah Şebnem Ferah (born 12 April 1972) is a Turkish singer, songwriter, composer, and guitarist. She was the lead vocalist of the all-female hard rock band Volvox until 1994, after which she went on to pursue an illustrious solo career. Her music s ...

, who has now also become another recognized rock musician in Turkey, and became the keyboard player of the successful all-female rock band ''

Volvox ''Volvox'' is a polyphyletic genus of chlorophyte green algae in the family Volvocaceae. It forms spherical colonies of up to 50,000 cells. They live in a variety of freshwater habitats, and were first reported by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in 1700 ...

''. Özlem occasionally performed as the lead singer as well. While still in Volvox, she met

Hakan Peker Hakan Peker (born February 5, 1961) is a Turkish dancer, songwriter, singer, and music composer. Discography Released albums * ''Bir Efsane '' (April 1989) * ''Camdan Cama'' (March 1990) * ''Düş ve Fantezi'' (September 1990) * ''Hey Corç ...

and they started working on her debut solo album in 1994. This album, ''Kime Ne'' (who cares?), was eventually released in January 1996 to widespread critical acclaim. The first single ''Aşk Herşeyi Affeder Mi?'' (Does love forgive everything?), written by

Barlas Erinç Barlas Erinç is a Turkish musician, rock singer and song writer. He was born in Ankara, Turkey. He studied Business Administration and is a graduate of Gazi University in Ankara. His first band AXE was a heavy metal band performing in Ankara ...

shot to the top of the charts. Other hit tracks include ''Duvaksız Gelin'' (Bride without a veil) and ''Herkes Şanslı Doğmuyor'' (Not everyone is born lucky). Then, Özlem Tekin left Hakan Peker's record label and went to

İstanbul Plak İstanbul Plak is a music publishing company of Turkey, established in 1963 and based in Unkapanı, Istanbul. Contracted Artists Current Artists * Özlem Tekin * Mirkelam * Sertan * Tarkan * Ümit Sayın * Zeynep Dizdar Notable artists * Ajd ...

which also had acquired other popular singers such as Tarkan. Her second album ''Öz'' was released in February 1998. This spawned ''Yol'' which became an enormous hit. ''Laubali'' came out a year later to great acclaim. Özlem started up her own TV show on

Kanal D Kanal D, also known as Channel D, is a nationwide television channel in Turkey and part of Demirören Group. It was founded by Ayhan Şahenk and Aydın Doğan in 1993. The network also runs an international channel, Euro D which is available o ...

called ''Yaz Rüzgarı'' (Summer Wind) in 2000. This aired for 1 hour, 5 days a week and received high ratings. In 2003 she started acting in the TV series "Sil Baştan" (From the Beginning). This show aired for 2 years, also with high ratings. In 2005, she starred in the stage musical "Mucizeler Komedisi" (The Comedy of Miracles). That same year, her new album "10987654321" was released, which presented a much harder sound than her previous efforts. In 2006, she acted in the

Cem Yılmaz Cem Yılmaz (, born 23 April 1973) is a Turkish actor, stand-up comedian, musician, filmmaker, screen writer, and cartoonist. He is best known for his films '' G.O.R.A.'' (2004), '' A.R.O.G'' (2008) and '' Yahşi Batı'' (2010), and has won tw ...

movie "Hokkabaz" (The Trickster). In the same year, she also featured in the TV movie "Maçolar". Her fans celebrated her tenth year in music by naming a forest after her: "Özlem Tekin-Bahar Ormanı (Özlem Tekin-Spring Forest)" by her fans. In 2007, she had a role in another TV movie "Fesupanallah" as well as acting on stage with the famous Metin Serezli in a theater show named "Kim O". She also featured in duets with up and coming musicians during the year. (Ozturk's "Ben Uyurken," Badem's "Kalpsiz") In 2008, she started a new TV programme at Kral TV, one of the most established national music channels in Turkey. The programme's name is "Hiperaktif" (hyperactive) after Özlem's character. Also in 2008 she featured with Turkish singer Mişa, in his song "Dost Kalamam". In 2010, after a long break since her last album, she released her sixth studio album, "Bana Bi'şey Olmaz". One of the old tracks, "Sil Baştan", which she wrote for the TV series with the same name, is in this album. She also recorded "Sen Anla" which was written by her and vocalized, and used by a famous Turkish singer,

Levent Yüksel Levent Uğur Yüksel (born October 21, 1964) is a Turkish pop singer and multi instrumentalist. He has been active in live music industry since 1993. Life Yüksel's interest in arts and music started in an early age. He started to play violin at ...

, in his earlier album. One of the interesting things about new album is that she interpreted a famous Anatolian folk song "Hey Onbeşli" as "Aslan Yarim", in her own musical style. The first video clip from this album was "Yatağım Boş". After a while, second video clip "Kimse Bilmez" started to appear on TV channels. Third video clip "Sen Anla" was released and had a better popularity than the previous singles.

Discography

''Kargalar''

Released by Ateş Müzik (2013). Track Listing # Kargalar (Crows) # Asker (Soldier) # Kiyamet (Apocalypse) # Ay (Moon) # Sebepsiz Savaş (Causeless war) # Dünyam (My World) # Tarlalar (Fields) # Kargalar Remix # Dünyam Remix # Asker Remix

''Bana Bi'şey Olmaz (Nothing Would Happen to Me)''

Released by

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

) (2010). Track Listing # Bana Bi'şey Olmaz # Kimse Bilmez # Yatağım Boş # Şikayetim Var # Sen Anla # Yüzde Seksen # Erkekliğime Ver # Vur Beni # Aslan Yarim # Sil Baştan # Kimse Bilmez (Acoustic)

''109876543210''

Released by

(2005). Track Listing # Değmez # Gezegen X # Cinayet # Belki # Dene # Kaf Dağı # Aşk Yangın # A) Şık # Aşinayım Firara # Adımı Söyle

''Tek Başıma (All Alone)''

Released by

(2002) Track Listing # Kimbilir # Dağları Deldim # Hep Yek # Oof # Kırıldım # Deli Gibi # Onun İçin # Aşka Dair # İki Adım # Daa

''Laubali (Cavalier)''

Released by

, (1999). Track Listing # Laubali # Vurma # Biri Var # Biberi Bol # Bu Kalp # Kumdan Kaleler # Yazmamışlar # Ve Olamadı Aşk # Sorma # Beni Yakan Aşkın # Bir yaz Günü

''Öz''

''Öz'' ( en, Essence) is the second album by Turkish singer Özlem Tekin. It was released on 15 December 1998 by publisher Istanbul Plak. The album has ten songs. Track Listing # "Bahar" (composition-lyrics: Barlas) # "Öz" (composition-lyrics: Özlem Tekin) # "Yol" (composition-lyrics: Özlem Tekin) # "Saat" (composition-lyrics: Özlem Tekin) # "Paparazzi" (composition-lyrics: Özlem Tekin) # "Tarlalar" (composition-lyrics: Özlem Tekin) # "Duvar" (composition-lyrics: Özlem Tekin) # "Dünya" (composition-lyrics: Özlem Tekin) # "Çok" (composition-lyrics: Özlem Tekin) # ”Hiç" (composition-lyrics:

Barlas The Barlas ( mn, Barulās, script=Latn;Grupper, S. M. ‘A Barulas Family Narrative in the Yuan Shih: Some Neglected Prosopographical and Institutional Sources on Timurid Origins.’ Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 8 (1992–94): 11–97 Chagatay/ ...

)

''Kime Ne (Who Cares)''

Released by Peker Müzik (1996). Track Listing # Aşk Her Şeyi Affeder mi # Sebepsiz Savaş # Duvaksız Gelin # Yar Bana Varmadı # Kime Ne # Herkes Şanslı Doğmuyor # Niye Bana Bu Ceza # Adresler Karıştı # Var mı Yan Bakan # Gel Bu Yaz

References

External links

* *
Özlem Tekin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tekin, Ozlem 1971 births Living people American people of Turkish descent American emigrants to Turkey Women punk rock singers Turkish rock singers Turkish singer-songwriters 21st-century Turkish singers 21st-century Turkish women singers