Cemil Özeren

Cemil Özeren — Biography

Born in Bandırma, Cemil Özeren studied at Dokuz Eylül University in İzmir, where — drawing on a lifelong love of Caucasian folk melodies alongside influences like Barış Manço, Cem Karaca and Deep Purple — he formed a rock band called Entalpi with fellow students, serving as both vocalist and bassist.

After his studies, producer Erol Köse's approach to his university friend Erhan Güleryüz led the pair to found the band Ayna in 1996; its debut record Gittiğin Yağmurla Gel was an immediate hit, and the group went on to win Kral Türkiye Müzik Ödülleri several years running along with three consecutive Altın Kelebek awards. Özeren appeared on five albums with Ayna before parting ways with Güleryüz at the end of 2002 over differences in musical direction, a split he never reversed.

He continued performing afterward with his own outfit, Cem-i Cümle, and in the summer of 2012 released a new single, İstanbul, and played a concert in Antalya with a revamped lineup — but the cirrhosis he was being treated for kept him from finishing further work, and he died in hospital that November.