Merve Özbey

Merve Özbey — Biography

Merve Özbey Koçak is a Turkish pop singer born on 18 July 1988 in Istanbul, with family roots in Erzurum. She studied Turkish classical music at the Istanbul Technical University State Conservatory of Turkish Music. Her talent was spotted by Ebru Gündeş, who took her on as a backing vocalist, and she went on to sing behind artists such as Demet Akalın, Bengü, Özcan Deniz and Yaşar İpek.

After meeting producer Erdem Kınay at one of Demet Akalın's album launches, she featured on his Proje album with Duman (2012) and on Proje 2 with Helal Ettim (2013), songs that made her widely known and brought her several breakthrough-artist awards. Her debut solo album, Yaş Hikayesi, arrived in July 2015, and its title track climbed to the top of the Turkish charts. Her second album, the pop record Devran with arabesque and soul elements, followed in May 2019, and she later released singles including Yerle Yeksan, Haram and Duramıyorum, a duet with Mustafa Ceceli. She also appeared on tribute albums honoring Yıldız Tilbe and Ahmet Selçuk İlkan. In 2020 she married businessman Kenan Koçak, with whom she has two children, and she supports charitable projects that establish libraries in village schools.