Burcu Güneş

Burcu Güneş — Biography

Burcu Güneş was born on 12 August 1975 in the Alsancak neighbourhood of İzmir, the daughter of guitarist Ali Güneş and his wife Bige Özkan, and grew up in the Şirinyer district. Drawn to music from an early age, she wrote her own composition at just twelve and gained stage experience singing jazz and pop alongside her father's bands in hotels and holiday resorts. While training under vocal coach Müfit Bayraşa at the İzmir State Conservatory, she caught the attention of pianist Burçin Büke, a connection that led her to the Raks Müzik label and opened the door to a professional career.

She became known with her debut album Aşk Yarası in 1998, and went on to establish herself as one of the leading names in Turkish pop with albums such as Tılsım (2001) and Ay Şahit (2004), earning numerous artist-of-the-year and album-of-the-year honours from various organisations along the way. One of her songs also featured in the soundtrack of the film Neredesin Firuze. She is likewise an animal-rights campaigner: she joined Turkey's then prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, at a February 2011 meeting with welfare activists, and has worked with the group HAYTAP.