Murat İlkan

Murat İlkan — Biography

Murat İlkan was born on 8 July 1971 in Karşıyaka, İzmir. While attending Hakimiyeti Milliye Primary School and İzmir Fatih College for middle school, he also studied at the vocal department of the İzmir State Conservatory. He moved to Istanbul in 1986 and graduated from Kadıköy Kenan Evren High School, taking private vocal lessons from Şefik Şekeroğlu, Adnan Polge, Belkıs Aran and Ayşegül Sabuncu, and performing with classical Western and Turkish music choirs. In 1987 he formed the band Sawdust, placed in the TRT Altın Anten and Kuşadası Altın Güvercin competitions, and later spent four years playing clubs with the band Cherokee.

In 1995 he joined the heavy metal band Pentagram (known internationally as Mezarkabul), whose drummer is his younger brother Aykan İlkan, as lead vocalist, singing on the albums Anatolia, Popçular Dışarı, Unspoken, Bir and Akustik; in 2004 he also provided vocals for Cem Köksal's album "Set Me Free!!" After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in May 2010, he announced he was leaving the band to pursue a solo acoustic project called "Murat İlkan Akustik," releasing the solo album "Fanus" at the end of 2013.

In subsequent years he appeared as guest vocalist on albums by the bands Takıntı and Khepra, and recorded songs for albums by Metin Türkcan and Selim Işık; from 2017 onward he began performing live with Pentagram again.