Who is Harun Kolçak?

Harun Emin Kolçak (born July 15, 1955, Date of death Istanbul - July 19, 2017, Istanbul) Turkish singer and songwriter. He was the son of cinema artist Eşref Kolçak.

His life and career

1955-1977: first experience
Born in Istanbul in 1955, the artist started his musical studies by playing bass guitar in those years while continuing his education in Saint Benoit, and when his passion for music increased, he quit his education by speaking to his father, Eşref Kolçak, who was a cinema artist, and started his professional music studies. He started his first studies with Erkin Koray, who is known as the father of rock music. In 1977, he played bass guitar in the album Passion, released by Erkin Koray.

1978-1990
Joining the Armed Forces Ritm 68 orchestra as a bass guitarist in 1978, Kolçak returned to jazz and worked with musicians such as Aydın Esen, Neşet Ruacan-Nükhet Ruacan and Erol Pekcan and increased her musical experience. Later, he received an offer from Onno Tunç to join his orchestra. Kolçak, who started singing with the encouragement of Sezen Aksu, whom she met on this occasion, worked as a bass guitarist, vocalist and soloist in Onno Tunç Orchestra for 7 years. He received awards at the song contests named Kuşadası “Kuşadası Golden Pigeon Music Competition” and Antalya “Mediterranean Mediterranean Music Competition” with duets he made with Zerrin Özer and Aşkın Nur Yengi. During this period, he performed backing vocals for Nilüfer, Sezen Aksu and Zerrin Özer albums.

1991-2017
In 1992, he got a big break with the album Beni Affet, which was produced by Onno Tunç. With the song "Gir Kanıma" in this album, which also includes the lyrics of Sezen Aksu, Harun Kolçak got her name written in Turkish pop that had a boom. Kolçak, who made the lyrics and music of most of the songs in the album, also gave many works to other artists. Emel's album, Faka Bastın, released the same year, contained two Kolchak works. Towards the end of 1993, Kolçak's second album En Great Aşk was released. On this album, Kolçak chose to work with İskender Paydaş. Working with Bendeniz in 1994, Kolçak released a single with the artist called “We” and made back vocals for the Bendeniz II album. In the same year, Emel, attracting attention with her music video, composed the song "I'm scared".

In 1995, Harun Kolçak, who changed the record company and created a new image by cutting his mustache and growing his hair, released the album Stay With Me. The artist continued to work with Paydaş on this album as well. In 1996, he was selected as the “Best Second Singer” with his song “Müptelayım Sana” in “Müptelayım Sana” in “Müzikos Festivalis 13” attended by 96 countries in Lithuania. In 1998, he released his fourth album Surrendered. The artist, who also worked with İskender Paydaş and Eser Taşkıran, made a duet with Aşkın Nur Yengi in a Sezen Aksu song after a while.

Kolçak, who started the 2000s by moving to a new music company, released her fifth album, Yaşasın, but the album did not make much sound. After this album, Kolçak remained silent in terms of music for a while, and participated in the reality show Ünlüler Çiftliği in 2004. He made an acting experiment in a TV movie called Liar Foreigner. He returned to the world of music in 2006 with the album The Musician. Kolçak worked with Mustafa Ceceli in the album produced by Sezen Aksu. During this period, the artist focused on personal development and religious studies and wrote a book called The End of the Papacy According to the Oracle Aziz Malachy the same year.

Kolçak released her last album, I'm Born Again, consisting of new songs in 2012. In October 2013, Harun Kolçak started the project named & Rock Off. The group, which includes Kolçak, Can Güney, Yusuf Tunceli and Orkun Gezer, performed its first performance in Okan Bayülgen's program named Makina Kafa.

In 2016, in honor of the 25th anniversary of her interpretation, she released the quarter century project, where she re-interpreted 14 songs as a duet with singers, mostly from the new generation. The album attracted great attention and Kolchak took it back to the charts after a long hiatus. Although he started working with the second of the Quarter Century before his death, the album remained in the project phase with the death of Kolçak. It won the 11th Pantene Golden Butterfly award on December 2017, 44. His father Eşref Koçak received the award for himself.

Disease and death
Harun Kolçak explained to her fans that she had been struggling with prostate cancer for a while in 2010. He had surgery in 2014 for prostate cancer. “Death adds meaning to many things in life. Explaining how he struggled with his illness with the words “If we were immortal, we would not value each other”, Kolçak said that he overcame cancer with his spirituality and that he was on an alkaline diet.

On Wednesday, 22 June 2016, Harun Kolçak's illness relapsed. Harun Kolçak was taken to the hospital urgently and underwent a new surgery. It was reported by close friends of the artist, who was treated in intensive care, that Harun Kolçak was conscious but could only react with her eyes. Kolçak, who left intensive care on 8 July, regained his health. The artist, who was hospitalized again due to his illness in July 2017, died at the age of 19 at the Maslak Acıbadem Hospital, where he was treated on the evening of July 2017, 62, despite the interventions. His corpse was removed from Teşvikiye Mosque and buried in the family cemetery in Bursa's Gemlik district.

albums

• Forgive Me (1991)
• Greatest Love (1993)
• Stay With Me (1995)
• Surrendered (1998)
• Long Live (2000)
• Musician (2006)
• I'm Born Again (2012)
• Quarter Century (2016)
• Commemorative (2020)

Singles 

• We (Beneniz and Harun Kolçak) (1994)
• Love Will Always Change Me (2007)

Other works 

• Call to Dance - with Zerrin Özer at the 1986 Kuşadası Golden Pigeon Music Competition
• Again - with Aşkın Nur Yengi at the 1987 Kuşadası Golden Pigeon Music Competition
• Say Good Things - with Aşkın Nur Yengi at the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest
• Keloğlan - As a member of Group FM in 1987 Eurovision Song Contest
• Bile Bile - duet in Aşkın Nur Yengi's Valentine album (1990)
• Mine - duet in Aşkın Nur Yengi's Haberci album (1997)
• Efkarım Tarumar - Duet on Serpil Barlas' album (1998)
• Hear Me Listen to Me - 41 Times Mashallah (2006)
• There is Someone - duet in Bendeniz's album I Change (2006)
• No Reason - duet on Egoist's Ten album (2007)
• I'm sorry - duet on Betül Demir's Super album (2008)
• One Night - Çınar Vol. I (2008)

Films

As an actor 

• Lead Soldier (2002)
• The Filthy Seven (2012-2013) Hurşit Van Beethoven

Music team 

• Nickname Goncagül (1987)
• The Lying Stranger (2006)
• The Stranger Inside Me - I Love You (2008)