Ferdi Özbeğen, who draws attention with his strong voice as well as his flawless use of Turkish and reflecting this in his songs, was born in Izmir in 1941 as the son of Hasan Özbeğen and Afet Özbeğen. The artist studied kindergarten and first grade of primary school at Şişli Terakki Foundation Private Işık College. .
The artist, who started private music education in secondary school, graduated from Izmir Private Turkish College in 1960. Özbeğen, who later entered the Faculty of Economics in Istanbul, had to interrupt his education after his father passed away in 1963 and turned to music, which was his area of interest. Özbeğen started his musical journey by participating in the “Golden Microphone” competition held in 1965, and after the competition, he established his own orchestra professionally and produced works.
While Özbeğen sang the songs “Kes Kes” and “I Cannot Open My Box” in the competition, after the competition, the orchestra included Okay Temiz in 1967 and Esin Engin in 1968.
Özbeğen gave concerts with his orchestra in various local and entertainment centers until 1974. After the Çınar Hotel, where he last worked, went on strike, his orchestra was disbanded and he started working in Şefik Uyguner’s orchestra.
This album of the master artist, who released his first album “Ferdi Özbeğen’le 45 Dakika” in 1977 after the disbandment of the group, reached a high sales figure in a short time.
Özbeğen, whose albums “Yaşakçe”, “Bir Sır Gibi” and “Seviyorum Delicesine” attracted great attention, won the “Golden Record” award with his record “Sohbet”, and the “Platinum Record” and “Golden Piano” awards with “Mutluluklar”. Özbeğen In the album “I Need You”, he also sang Turkish adaptations of Orson Welles’ “I Know What Is To Be Young” and Lionel Richie’s “Hello”. The album “Songs You Love”, released by the artist towards the end of 1986, was the first chrome cassette released in Turkey.
The master pianist introduced his nostalgia album “My Songs”, which he released in 1991, to his fans with his album “Kandil” in 1998 and “Let’s Not Leave” in 2001. In 2006, Yaşar Plak rearranged the songs that the artist sang 26 years ago and published them under the name “Can Suyum”.
WHEN DID FERDİ ÖZBEĞEN DIE?
The master musician succumbed to prostate cancer, which he contracted in 2001, and died in the intensive care unit of Okmeydanı Training and Research Hospital, where he was treated, on January 28, 2013, at the age of 72. Following the ceremony held at the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall on January 30, Özbeğen’s body was buried in Ulus Cemetery after the prayer at the Levent Mosque.
