Erol Evgin

Erol Evgin — Biography

Mehmet Erol Evgin (born 16 April 1947 in Istanbul) is a Turkish singer and composer regarded as one of the leading voices of Turkish pop. He has also worked as a presenter, actor, producer and architect, and founded POPSAV, the foundation bringing pop artists together under one roof.

After finishing Istanbul High School, he completed his studies in architecture at the State Academy of Fine Arts, the institution that evolved into today's Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. He taught there for a time and later opened an architecture office with his wife, architect Emel Evgin. He speaks German and English, and his son Murat Evgin is also a pop musician.

His recording career began in 1969 with the self-penned single Sen / Eski Günler. Through his celebrated partnership with composer Melih Kibar and lyricist Çiğdem Talu he released singles such as İşte Öyle Bir Şey, Sevdan Olmasa, Bir de Bana Sor, İçimdeki Fırtına and Söyle Canım, winning the Golden Record Award for İşte Öyle Bir Şey and Söyle Canım. After pausing album work in the 1990s he returned with Sen Unutulacak Kadın Mısın? (1997), written largely with lyricist Selma Çuhacı, and İbadetim (2003). In 2002 he toured with his son on a 20-concert "Father and Son" series. His later output includes the duet albums Altın Düetler (2016) and Altın Düetler 2 (2019) plus the acoustic collections Sevdiklerim (Akustik) (2021) and Sevdiklerim 2 (Akustik) (2023).

On stage he starred between 1980 and 1984 in Haldun Dormen's musicals Hisseli Harikalar Kumpanyası and Şen Sazın Bülbülleri. In cinema he took leading roles in the musical films Meryem ve Oğulları (1977), Renkli Dünya (1980) and Bir İlkbahar Sabahı (1985); on television he appeared in Hisseli Harikalar Kumpanyası (1988) and Hayat Bilgisi (2003), with a guest appearance in Masumlar Apartmanı in 2021. Since 1992 he has produced, directed and hosted many programmes, among them Süper Aile on Show TV, Erol Evgin Show on TRT 1 and Bir Sevda Masalı.