Merve Özbey (born 18 July 1988) is a Turkish singer and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

. Due to her collaborations with Erdem Kınay in the songs "Duman" and "Helal Ettim", she became famous in Turkey.

Life and career

Merve Özbey was born on 18 July 1988 in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. Her family originate from

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. The city uses the double-headed eagle as ...

. She studied

Turkish classical music Ottoman music ( tr, Osmanlı müziği) or Turkish classical music ( tr, Türk sanat müziği) is the tradition of classical music originating in the Ottoman Empire. Developed in the palace, major Ottoman cities, and Sufi lodges, it traditionally ...

Istanbul Technical University Istanbul Technical University ( tr, İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, commonly referred to as ITU or The Technical University) is an international technical university located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the world's third-oldest technical university ...

. Singer

Ebru Gündeş Ebru Gündeş (, born 12 October 1974) is a Turkish pop-folk and arabesque singer, actress, and television personality. Early life Ebru Gündeş was born in Istanbul. She attended primary school in Ankara, but she was forced to discontinue her ...

discovered Özbey's talent. While listening to her at Utku's concert, she liked her voice and asked Özbey to perform a few more songs and eventually took her as her own backing vocalist. Özbey subsequently became a backing vocalist for singers

Demet Akalın Demet Akalın (born 23 April 1972) is a Turkish singer and former model. Due to the popular songs she has released since the middle of the 2000s, she has become one of the most recognizable names of Turkish pop music. Akalın, who was born in G� ...

Bengü Bengü Erden (born 2 April 1979) is a Turkish singer. She became first familiar with music during her time at the İzmir State Symphony Orchestra. In İzmir, she was cast in a leading role in the musical "Oliver Twist". She later took singing le ...

Özcan Deniz Özcan Deniz (born 19 May 1972) is a Turkish actor, singer, composer, writer and director, who is of Kurdish descent. Life His family is of Kurdish origin. Deniz's family is originally from Ağrı but he was born in Ankara and grew up in Aydı ...

, Ferman Toprak, Utku and Yaşar İpek. While she was working as a vocalist on Demet Akalın's new album she met Erdem Kınay. Kınay said that he was working on a new album and asked Özbey to collaborate with him. In 2012, Kınay's new album ''Proje'' was released and Özbey was featured on the song "Duman". The song became a massive hit and made Özbey well-known. In 2013, Kınay released the album ''Proje 2'' and Özbey was featured on the song "Helal Ettim". After releasing a few songs with Kınay, Özbey decided to work on her first solo album. In July 2015, Özbey's first album ''Yaş Hikayesi'' was released. A

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

with the same name was written by Deniz Erten and arranged by Erdem Kınay. The song became a number one hit on

Türkçe Top 20 Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant smal ...

. A second music video was also made for "Topsuz Tüfeksiz", followed by the album's third and final music video "Vicdanın Affetsin". In 2018, Özbey's name was among the artists whose names appeared in

Yıldız Tilbe Yıldız Tilbe (born 16 July 1966) is a Turkish singer of Kurdish descent and one of the best-selling musical artists in Turkey, known especially for her eastern-infused ballads. Life and career Yıldız Tilbe was born in the Gültepe district o ...

and

Ahmet Selçuk İlkan Ahmet Selçuk İlkan (born 26 October 1955) is a Turkish poet and songwriter. Life After high school, İlkan went to Berlin to study architecture and engineering. Later he developed an interest in poetry and enrolled in the Faculty of Language ...

's tribute albums. For these two albums, she performed the songs "Vuracak" and "Hani Bizim Sevdamız" respectively. Özbey's second album, ''Devran'', was released in May 2019. A pop album, it featured elements of

Arabesque The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...

and

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became po ...

. The album's first music video was prepared for the song "Tebrikler". The second music video was released for the song "Yaramızda Kalsın", written by Onur Can Özcan who had lost his life one year prior to the album's release in an accident.

Discography

Albums

* ''Yaş Hikayesi'' (2015) * ''Devran'' (2019)

Singles

* "Yerle Yeksan" (2021) * "Kendine Dünya" (2021) * "Kaptan" (feat.

Emrah Karaduman Emrah Karaduman (born 4 November 1987) is a Turkish composer and arranger. Life and career Karaduman was born 4 November 1987 in Samsun. Although he later enrolled in the conservatory to study music, he could not continue his education due to f ...

) (2022) * "Haram" (2022) * "Sahi" (2023)

As featured artist

;Albums * "Duman" from ''Proje'' (2012) * "Helal Ettim" from ''Proje 2'' (2013) * "Yolun Sonu" from ''Musa Eroğlu ile Bir Asır'' (2015) * "Vuracak" from ''Yıldız Tilbe'nin Yıldızlı Şarkıları'' (2018) * "Hani Bizim Sevdamız" from ''Ahmet Selçuk İlkan Unutulmayan Şarkılar'' (2018) * "Durum Çok Acil" from ''Piyanist 2'' (2022) * "Kararsın Dünyam" from ''Serdar Ortaç Şarkıları, Vol. 1'' (2022) * "Çilingir" from ''Söz Müzik Onur Can Özcan'' (2022) ;Singles * "Boynun Borcu" (2017)

Music videos

* "Duman" (feat. Erdem Kınay) * "Helal Ettim" (feat. Erdem Kınay) * "Yaş Hikayesi" * "Topsuz Tüfeksiz" * "Vicdanın Affetsin" * "Boynun Borcu" * "Vuracak" (''

'nin Yıldızlı Şarkıları'') * "Hani Bizim Sevdamız" (''

Unutulmayan Şarkılar'') * "Tebrikler" * "Yaramızda Kalsın" * "Kül" * "Kendine Dünya" * "Durum Çok Acil" (with

Sinan Akçıl Sinan Akçıl (born 20 May 1982) is a Turkish composer, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is known for producing Hadise's Eurovision 2009 song for Turkey, called "Düm Tek Tek". Personal life Sinan Akçıl married popular Turkish actress ...

and

Mustafa Ceceli Mustafa Ceceli (; born 2 November 1980) is a Turkish singer. Career His musical career started with an amateur high school band. After high school, he attended to Ankara University Faculty of Veterinary. In third class, he left this faculty, he ...

) * "Çilingir" * "Kararsın Dünyam" * "Haram" * "Sahi"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Özbey, Merve 1988 births Turkish pop singers Turkish women singers Living people Singers from Istanbul Istanbul Technical University alumni Turkish lyricists