Göksel

Göksel — Biography

Göksel Demirpençe was born in Üsküdar on 25 November 1971 to a family whose roots trace to Elazığ and grew up in Suadiye; her truck-driver father and poetry-writing mother shaped her early interest in music and songwriting. She enrolled at Boğaziçi University to study philosophy, though her professional turn toward music soon followed, and, through a university friend, Yaşar Gaga, she sang solo with a number of orchestras from 1992, spending time in Sezen Aksu's ensemble. Her meeting with composer Onno Tunç in 1994 gave her career fresh momentum, and Yollar, an album she wrote nearly all of herself, came out in 1997. Her 2001 release Körebe won wide acclaim; the same record also marked the start of both a marriage and a years-long musical partnership with Alper Erinç, one that lasted until 2007. Her duet with rock band maNga, "Dursun Zaman," featured on the soundtrack of Sınav, a film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. The album Bende Bi' Aşk Var (2012) brought her the Altın Kelebek and Northern Cyprus Best Pop Female prizes, and in 2013 she won Best Female Singer at the Turkey Video Music Awards. She released her ninth album, Sen Orda Yoksun, in 2015, performed the national anthem before the 2021 Turkish Formula 1 Grand Prix, and continues recording, with the 2026 album Rüyaların İşi.