Baris Manco

Baris Manco (born in Istanbul, Turkey on January 2nd, 1943) was a famous Turkish singer, composer, TV producer and TV celebrity. He composed about 200 songs, most of which were translated into a variety of languages including Greek, Bulgarian, Romanian, Arabic and Persian. Although he first became famous as the pioneer of the Turkish ethnic rock in late 1950s, he always renewed his style and adopted his songs to the popular styles of his time throughout a career of more than 40 years. His well-known band (Kurtalan Ekspres) accompanied him in most of his stage performances. The band included Elif Turhan, Ahmet Guvenc, Bahadir Akkuzu, Cihangir Akkuzu and Eser Taskiran. Baris Manco died of a sudden heart attack on January 31st, 1999.