Candan Erçetin

Candan Erçetin is a Turkish pop singer and songwriter, born on 10 February 1961 in Kırklareli, Turkey. Her parents came to Turkey from Yugoslavia in the mid-1950s, her father's side from Skopje and her mother's from Pristina, so she may just as well be counted as Turkish. Balkan melodies run through her music, and besides Turkish she has written and sung songs in French and Greek.

At eleven she won a scholarship and moved to Istanbul on her own to attend Galatasaray High School. In 1978 she took singing lessons at the Istanbul Municipality Singing School, and she later studied classical archaeology at Istanbul University. In 1986, still a student, she sang "Halley" with the group Klips ve Onlar at the Eurovision Song Contest, at the time the best result Turkey had ever had there. She returned to the Turkish selection in 1990 with "Daha Kolay" and in 1992 with "Kimbilir Nerdesin".

Her first album, Hazırım, came out in August 1995, with songs by Sezen Aksu and, above all, Gökhan Kırdar. Çapkın followed on 17 June 1997, and its song "Yalan" became a big hit; the video for "Her Aşk Bitermiş" won Best Video Clip. Elbette, released on 30 November 1999, was her breakthrough: it sold more than a million copies, was the best-selling album of 2000 in Turkey, and in 2009 NTV's music judges named it the best Turkish album of the decade. A critic at the daily Zaman named "Dünya Durma" and her version of the 1960 song "Unut Sevme" the most listened-to songs of 2000.

Neden (2002) brought the hit "Gamsız Hayat". In 2003 she released Chante Hier Pour Aujourd'hui, a set of French songs, and Melek (2004), with the rapper Ceza on "Şehir", topped the D&R sales list. Aman Doktor (2005) put Turkish and Greek songs side by side and went gold. In 2005 she also took a leading role in the musical Yıldızların Altında.

She produced the film Gölgesizler, and its song "Ben Kimim" spent 15 weeks on Billboard's Türkçe Top 20, peaking at number two. It was then included on Kırık Kalpler Durağında (2009), with "Kader" and "Git". Milyonlarca Kuştuk... followed in 2013 and Ah Bu Şarkıların Gözü Kör Olsun, covers of Turkish classical songs, in 2015, then the singles "Kim Korkar", "Değişiyoruz" and "İyi ki".

Candan Erçetin has also presented television programmes, taught music at Galatasaray High School and diction at Galatasaray University. In 2014 France awarded her the Order of Arts and Letters for her work for French-Turkish ties, and in 2022 "Gamsız Hayat" was heard in the British film Aftersun.