Özlem Tekin

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Özlem Tekin
Özlem Tekin promotion shot for the album 109876543210
Background information
Born	November 18, 1971
Origin	Turkey, United States
Genre(s)	Rock, Hard rock, Punk, House
Occupation(s)	Singer, Song-writer
Years active	1990 - present
Label(s)	Peker Müzik, İstanbul Plak
Website	ozlemtekin.org

Özlem Tekin (born November 18, 1971) is a Turkish singer, TV show host 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, and Turkish folk music.

[edit] Life and career

Özlem Tekin was born in California into a Turkish-American family. Her father Talat Tekin was a prominent Turkologist at UC Berkeley. The Tekins moved to Turkey when she was just 4. Özlem grew up in Ankara, where she went on to study 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 would occasionally perform as the lead singer as well.

While still in Volvox, she met Hakan Teker and they started working on her debut solo album in 1994. This album, called Kime Ne (literally, who cares?), was eventually released in January 1996 to widespread critical acclaim. The first single Aşk Herşeyi Affeder Mi? (Does love forgive everything?) shot to the top of the charts. Other hit tracks include Duvaksız Gelin (Bride without a veil) and Herkes Şanslı Doğmuyor (Not everyone is lucky).

Özlem Tekin

Then, Özlem Tekin left Hakan Peker's record label and went to İstanbul Plak which also had acquired other popular singers like Tarkan and Mirkelam. Her second album Öz was released in February 1998. This spawned Yol which became an enormous hit all across Europe.

Laubali came out a year later to great success.

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 year 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 very year, her new album "10987654321" was released, which presented a much harder sound than her previous effort.

In 2006 she played in the Cem Yılmaz movie "Hokkabaz".