Demet Akalin is a former model who was born in the seaside town of Gölcük, Turkey in 1972. Her modelling career led to Akalin being selected to appear in a number of Turkish TV and film roles and she started to become a well known personality in the Turkish media. In 1996 she began to pursue a career in music and released the album 'Sebebim', a collection of pop songs with an Arabesque feel which reflected her own cultural background. Unfortunately the album was poorly received by fans and critics alike but Akalin continued with her dream of becoming a recording artist. A follow-up album and a number of EPs were released soon after, but it wasn't until the release of her third album 'Banane' in 2004 that Turkish music fans began to take notice and the album sold 40,000 units. Since then Akalin has risen to prominence as one of Turkey's premier pop singers and has released a string of successful albums with three of them being certified gold. To widen her appeal in the market Akalin has collaborated on two joint albums with two other Turkish singers, Fettah Can and Serkan Tektas, both well known performers in their own right.