Soner Arıca

Soner Arıca — Biography

Soner Arıca has been one of the recognisable voices of Turkish pop since the 1990s, working as a singer but also as a composer, producer, stage actor and author. His first album, Bir Umut, came out in 1992, and he is still active. The Cumhuriyet Marşı, which he composed for the Republic's 100th anniversary, brought him back into the news.

Before turning to music he worked as a professional model from 1986; in those five years he also worked as casting manager and production assistant at an advertising agency, and he quit modelling entirely in 1992. Next came En Güzel Serüven (1994), Yaşıyorum (1995), Herşey Yolunda (1997) and Kusursuz Aşk (2001); the 2000s brought Benim Adım Aşk and Seni Seviyorum, and 2014-2016 saw İyisi Geliyor, Yapboz and Saklı.

He moved into theatre too: in 2002 he led Love Story in Bursa, then appeared in Çılgın Yenge (2008), Üvey Karım (2009) and Kanlı Nigar (2011). His novel Belki de Hiç Unutmadım appeared in 2005. The youngest of seven children, from Fatsa in Ordu, he studied economics at Marmara University; he is the brother of the football manager Erdoğan Arıca and a nephew of the veteran actor Kadir İnanır. His birth year is given as both 1961 and 1966. In June 2026 he lost his mother and, three days later, his uncle İnanır; on 19 July he remembered both at his concert in Fatsa.