Aşkın Nur Yengi

Aşkın Nur Yengi — Biography

The youngest child of a civil servant father from Erzincan, Bahattin Yengi, and a homemaker mother from Trabzon, Samime Yengi, Aşkın Nur Yengi was born in Istanbul on 3 July 1970; her older sister, Süheyla Yengi, worked for a time as Sezen Aksu's backing vocalist and assistant. After primary school in Erenköy she trained as a cellist at a state music conservatory, graduating eleven years later. While still in secondary school, in 1981, she joined Onno Tunç's orchestra as a backing singer for Sezen Aksu, and in 1987 she and Harun Kolçak, performing as "Grup Periyod," entered the Turkish Eurovision finals; that same period she took first prizes at song contests in Kuşadası, Antalya and Çeşme.

Her 1990 debut album Sevgiliye sold heavily and turned her into a household name almost overnight; it was followed by Karaçiçeğim, Sıramı Bekliyorum and Hesap Ver, with a compilation of these recordings, Aşk'ın Şarkıları, appearing in 2007. A duet with the Lebanese singer Ragheb Alama carried her name across the Arab world. She has lent her voice to numerous advertising jingles since the 1980s, took to the stage in 2001 in Levent Kırca's play Kadıncıklar, served as music director for the show Olacak O Kadar that same year, and sat on the jury of a TRT folk-dance competition alongside Müjde Ar and Yavuz Bingöl.

In Kurtuluş she took on the role of Fikriye Hanım, and she went on to appear in Bodrum Masalı, Bayanlar Baylar and Dadı, plus the film Ömerçip (2003). Her 2006 marriage to Haluk Bilginer produced a daughter before the pair parted ways in 2012.