Bahadır Akkuzu (February 3, 1955 – August 6, 2009) was a Turkish singer and musician who was a self-taught

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

and

vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

Biography

Akkuzu began playing shows at the age of 15 and at the age of 17 joined a rock and roll group called "4 Adam". This was followed by a stint in "The Signal" and then a long career as a member of the Turkish/

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band Kurtalan Ekspres, which he joined in 1978. He was a contemporary of and worked with the famous Turkish musicians

Cem Karaca Muhtar Cem Karaca (5 April 1945 – 8 February 2004) was a Turkish legendary rock musician and one of the most important figures in the Anatolian rock movement. He was a graduate of Robert College. He worked with various Turkish rock bands suc ...

Erkin Koray Mustafa Erkin Koray (; 24 June 1941 – 7 August 2023) was a Turkish singer and guitarist who mainly played Anatolian rock. Life and career Koray was active in the Turkish rock music scene since the late 1950s. In 1967, he released his first ...

, and

Edip Akbayram Ahmet Edip Akbayram (29 December 1950 – 2 March 2025) was a Turkish musician. Life and career Akbayram was born in Gaziantep on 29 December 1950. He was diagnosed with polio when he was nine months old. Edip Akbayram, who spent his childhood ...

. His band-mate and friend

Barış Manço Mehmet Barış Manço (born Tosun Yusuf Mehmet Barış Manço; 2 January 1943 – 1 February 1999), better known by his stage name Barış Manço, was a Turkish people, Turkish rock music, rock musician, singer, composer, actor, television ...

died in 1999 at the age 56. Akkuzu took over singing duties for the band after his friend died.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

/ref> He was generally considered an experimental rock musician who cited many western influences, among which were

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

bands such as

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * Young Eisner Scholars, in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Appalachia, US * Young Ep ...

Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock Supergroup (music), supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards) of The Nice, Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitars, producer) ...

Bad Company Bad Company were an English rock supergroup formed in London in 1973 by singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke (both ex- Free), guitarist Mick Ralphs (ex- Mott the Hoople) and bassist Boz Burrell (ex-King Crimson). Kirke was the only m ...

Humble Pie Humble Pie are an English Rock music, rock band formed by Steve Marriott and Peter Frampton in Moreton, Essex, in 1969. They are known as one of the first Supergroup (music), supergroups of the late 1960s and enjoyed success in the early 1970s ...

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

Ten Years After Ten Years After are a British blues rock group, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, the band had eight consecutive Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart. In addition, they had twelve albums enter the US ''Bi ...

, and Rush.

Death

Akkuzu died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

on August 6, 2009, and was interred at the

Zincirlikuyu Cemetery The Zincirlikuyu Cemetery () is a modern burial ground in the European part of Istanbul, Turkey. It is administered by the Metropolitan Municipality. Many prominent figures from the world of politics, business, sports and arts rest here. The ce ...

Discography

With ''Kurtalan Ekspres'' * Hal Hal / Eğri Eğri Doğru Doğru Eğri Büğrü Ama Yine De Doğru (1981) (Türküola 239) * 3552 (2003 Sony Müsik) * Fourteen Numara (1986 Film score)

References

External links

Kurtalan Ekspres MySpace Page

blog interview

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akkuzu, Bahadir 1955 births 2009 deaths Musicians from Istanbul Turkish male singer-songwriters 20th-century Turkish male singers Progressive rock guitarists Turkish male guitarists Singers from Istanbul 20th-century guitarists Burials at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery