Turkish pop star Kutsi was born Ahmet Kutsi Karadoğan on March 16, 1973 in Akçadağ, Malatya. He grew up in Ankara where as a boy he learned to play both the accordion and the guitar. He began writing songs and, while still a teenager, moved to Istanbul in order to break into the business. Working with Erol Köse, he recorded his first album, 2000’s Ask Payini Aldi. For the next five years he managed to write songs performed by others, but he wasn’t able to deliver a follow-up on his own until 2005’s Sana Ne. After a brief flirtation with acting, he recorded 2007’s Aynı Şehirde Nefes Almak Bile Bana Yetiyor, which featured a more natural and less produced sound than his previous work. All this led to his breakthrough, 2008’s Aynadaki Yüzünün Karşılığı Benim, an album that contained numerous his songs, went to number 18 on the charts, and established his celebrity in Turkey. He continued to release singles like 2014’s “Yaz Günü”, 2016’s "Beşiktaşım Benim", and 2020’s “Hayaranim Sana”. In 2021 he was back on the Turkish charts with "Hayatımın Anlamı", a collaboration with Zara.