One of the most successful young faces of Turkish popular rock scene is without question Emre Aydin. Born in Isparta on February 2, 1981, he lived and studied in coastal cities like Antalya and Izmir. Izmir was actually the city where he started his career early on. Brought up with an acoustic guitar from childhood, Aydin had been on-stage for a long time before he became a nationwide star. Aydin founded the band 6. Cadde, with whom he and musical partner Onur Ela entered the national TV contest Sing Your Song. Among 1,574 entries, 6. Cadde's "Donersen" won the competition and finished at first place, which provided them a record contract with Universal Music Turkey. After all the publicity, 6. Cadde's 2003 self-titled debut effort's success seemed almost inevitable; however, Universal Music Turkey closed down just a month after the release. Without any decent promotion, the not-very-unique, mostly Athena-flavored pop/rock they presented did not get much attention. Onur Ela gave up professional music life, and Aydin returned to Izmir to finish school and write songs on his own. These years of struggle produced a collection of mournful songs that were released as the Afili Yalnizlik album in 2006. Based on the theme of loneliness, Afili Yalnizlik demonstrated Aydin's improved songwriting skills, painting beautiful melodies around words of sorrow. The video for the title track featuring Turkish actress Sebnem Donmez was an instant charmer and Aydin suddenly found himself at the top of the national charts. Containing six singles in total, Afili Yalnizlik was proof that the country had a new star, and several awards celebrated the album. But Aydin was not prepared to rest on his achievements, and began touring across Turkey as well as Europe. Later in 2008, Aydin was chosen as Europe's Favorite Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards. After the English-language single "Falling Down," Aydin released his second album, Kagit Evler, in 2010. Following a structure similar to that of his debut, Kagit Evler was an even bigger success. Recorded in Sweden by Mats Valentin, the album was still mellow, still bitter -- as demonstrated by the first single, "Bu Yagmurlar" -- but this time there were more uptempo songs scattered here and there. Aydin's themes on the album included leaving, forgetting, and, of course, not forgetting. He definitely expanded his following with this second release, and embarked on a huge tour of Turkey. ~ Vefik Karaege