Ceylan

Ceylan — Biography

Ceylan, in full Ceylan Avcı (born 1974), is a Turkish folk and arabesque singer, arranger, television presenter and actress. She is of Zaza background; her mother comes from Bayburt and her father from Pertek in Tunceli Province. Sources give her birthday as either 25 or 26 June. Although Wikidata records her place of birth as Tunceli, the Turkish, English, German and Arabic Wikipedias and SinemaTürk all agree on Istanbul, and the Wikidata entry appears to have been conflated with her family's origins.

She spent part of her childhood with her family in Duisburg, Germany. Her career began in 1984 as a child singer and actress; her 1986 album Seni Sevmeyen Ölsün sold 1.3 million copies in Turkey, and her 2005 album Ah Gönlüm was certified gold by Mü-Yap. She has twice been named Best Female Folk Singer at the Kral TV Video Music Awards.

She appeared in numerous films including Garibim Ceylan (1985), Hep Ezildim (1989) and Acı Kader (1990), and between 2012 and 2016 hosted the music programme Ceylan Show on Kanal 7 and Samanyolu TV.