Kayahan

Kayahan Achar was born on March 29, 1949 in Izmir ^[2] . He spent his childhood and youth in Ankara, then moved to Istanbul ^[3] .

Kayahan released his first songs in the 1970s. In 1981, he released his first album, but Kayahan gained popularity only after participating in the 1986 Mediterranean Music Competition, in which he won by performing the song “Geceler” (“Nights”) ^[3] .

Since the second half of the 80s, he collaborated with the singer Nilufer. Kayahan wrote songs for her, and they also gave joint concerts. After a while, Nilyufer and Kayahan had a conflict over copyright, the trial in court lasted more than 15 years ^[4] .

In 1990, Kayahan participated in the Eurovision Song Contest, he sang the song "Gözlerinin Hapsindeyim" ("Prisoner of Your Eyes") ^[4] .

Personal life

Kayahan was married three times. The first time he married in 1973. This marriage lasted 24 years, the daughter of Beste was born in it (b. 1975). In 1995, Beste took part in the Miss Turkey contest. Kayahan's second wife was Lale Yylmaz, whom he married in 1990. In 1996, the couple divorced. In 1996, Kayahan married Ipek Tuter (b. 1976). In August 2000, Tuter gave birth to Asla Gönyul's daughter ^[3] .

Death

In 1990, Kayahan was diagnosed with soft tissue sarcoma. This diagnosis was also made to Kayahan in 2005 and 2014. On April 3, 2015, Kayahan Achar died in an Istanbul hospital from multiple organ failure . Shortly before this, on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2015, Kayahan gave his last concert with Nilyufer , at which he said goodbye to the audience.

A religious farewell ceremony for the singer took place in the Teshvikiye Mosque , after which the body of the singer was buried in the Kanlıj cemetery. The funeral was attended by Turkish artists Nilüfer, Suat Suna , Cesen Aksu and Arif Sag , as well as Turkish President Recep Erdogan ^[4] .