Çetin Alp

Çetin Alp — Biography

Born Çetin Küçükarslan on 21 June 1947 in Malatya, Çetin Alp built his career as a Turkish pop singer after winning the Altın Ses talent contest in the early 1970s. A single carrying Sezen Cumhur Önal's lyrics sold half a million copies and earned him a gold record, and he went on to record further hits such as Son Defa Görsem and the late-1970s favourite Çek Çek; he also placed third in a Los Angeles song contest and won Bulgaria's Altın Orfe competition in 1990.

In 1983 he represented Turkey at the Eurovision Song Contest in Munich with the vocal group Kısa Dalga, performing Opera to zero points, a result that drew harsh criticism for years afterward. Married three times, he had three children from his first marriage to Ergül Kuğuoğlu, including son Ahmet Küçükarslan, who later became a musician himself; his final marriage was to actress Suna Yıldızoğlu. Long troubled by heart disease, Alp died of a heart attack at his Istanbul home on 18 May 2004, just three days after the city hosted the Eurovision final.