Özlem Tekin

Özlem Tekin
Background information
Born	November 18, 1971 (1971-11-18) California, U.S.
Origin	Ankara, Turkey
Genres	Acoustic rock, Hard rock, Punk, Pop
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, actress
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Peker Müzik, İstanbul Plak Sony Music
Associated acts	Volvox

Özlem Tekin (born November 18, 1971) is a Turkish singer, TV show host^{[citation needed]} and occasional actress, primarily known for her music. Though she started out in the hard rock genre, her music has progressed to incorporate different styles such as house, punk, pop and Turkish folk music.

Life and career

Özlem Tekin was born in California, United States into a Turkish-American family. Her father Talat Tekin was a prominent Turkologist at UC Berkeley. The Tekins moved to Turkey when she was four years old. Özlem grew up in Ankara, where she studied classical western music at the Hacettepe University Music Conservatory in Ankara, specializing in the clarinet.

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, who has now also become another recognized rock musician in Turkey, and became the keyboard player of the successful all-female rock band Volvox. Özlem occasionally performed as the lead singer as well.

While still in Volvox, she met Hakan Peker 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 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 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 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 played in the Cem Yılmaz movie "Hokkabaz" (The Trickster). In the same year, she played in the TV movie "Maçolar".

After this experiment, she met with a nice surprise—is a plantation of trees for her—to celebrate her tenth year in music. After a long preparation, the plantation was completed and named as "Özlem Tekin-Bahar Ormanı (Özlem Tekin-Spring Forest)" by her fans.

In 2007, she played in another TV movie "Fesupanallah". Currently she is preparing for a new project, which is a theatre play "Kim O". Özlem Tekin will share the roles with a famous Turkish thespian, Metin Serezli. She also supported some musician friends with her duets during the year. One was Turkish rock musician Ozturk's "Ben Uyurken". At the end of the year, she appeared in the famous Turkish rock band Badem's "Kalpsiz" song and its video clip. This song has become very populer and one of the most listened to tracks of recent years.

In 2008, she started a new TV programme on one of the most famous national music channels in Turkey, Kral TV. The programme's name is "Hiperaktif" (hyperactive) after Özlem's character. The programme format suits Özlem in her second TV announcer role, after "Yaz Rüzgarı". At the end of this year, she supported her friend, a Turkish singer Mişa, in his song "Dost Kalamam" in a duet. She also performed in this song's video clip. This work was mostly shown on TV in 2009.

In 2010, after a long break in her album work, 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, 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.

Discography

Bana Bi'şey Olmaz (Sony Music) (2010) Nothing Would Happen to Me

1. Bana Bi'şey Olmaz
2. Kimse Bilmez
3. Yatağım Boş
4. Şikayetim Var
5. Sen Anla
6. Yüzde Seksen
7. Erkekliğime Ver
8. Vur Beni
9. Aslan Yarim
10. Sil Baştan
11. Kimse Bilmez (Acoustic)

109876543210 (İstanbul Plak) (2005)

1. Değmez
2. Gezegen X
3. Cinayet
4. Belki
5. Dene
6. Kaf Dağı
7. Aşk Yangın
8. A) Şık
9. Aşinayım Firara
10. Adımı Söyle

Tek Başıma (İstanbul Plak) (2002) All Alone

1. Kimbilir
2. Dağları Deldim
3. Hep Yek
4. Oof
5. Kırıldım
6. Deli Gibi
7. Onun İçin
8. Aşka Dair
9. İki Adım
10. Daa

Laubali (İstanbul Plak) (1999) Cavalier

1. Laubali
2. Vurma
3. Biri Var
4. Biberi Bol
5. Bu Kalp
6. Kumdan Kaleler
7. Yazmamışlar
8. Ve Olamadı Aşk
9. Sorma
10. Beni Yakan Aşkın
11. Bir yaz Günü

Öz (İstanbul Plak) (1998) Essence

1. Bahar
2. Öz
3. Yol
4. Saat
5. Paparazzi
6. Tarlalar
7. Duvar
8. Dünya
9. Çok
10. Hiç

Kime Ne (Peker Müzik) (1995) Who Cares

1. Aşk Her Şeyi Affeder mi
2. Sebepsiz Savaş
3. Duvaksız Gelin
4. Yar Bana Varmadı
5. Kime Ne
6. Herkes Şanslı Doğmuyor
7. Niye Bana Bu Ceza
8. Adresler Karıştı
9. Var mı Yan Bakan
10. Gel Bu Yaz

External links

• Özlem Tekin at the Internet Movie Database
• (Turkish) Özlem Tekin