Baris Manco

Baris Manco (January 2, 1943 - January 31, 1999) was a Turkish singer, composer, television producer and celebrity. Born in Istanbul, Turkey, 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 Turkish ethnic rock in late 1950s, he constantly renewed his style and adopted his songs to the popular styles of his time throughout a career of more than 40 years. He was influenced by Anadolu Pop which was created by Murat Ses of early Mogollar. Influences may be heard on top hit songs such as Iste Hendek Iste Deve, Binboga'nin Kizi and the like where Murat Ses's organ playing shaped all-over sound. His well-known band, Kurtalan Ekspres, accompanied him in most of his stage performances. Earlier band, a legend by itself includes biggest names of the era. Members from Mogollar (Murat Ses, Engin Yorukoglu), Agri Dagi Efsanesi (Murat Ses, Mustafa Sarisin), Nur Moray, Ohannes Kemer, Celal Guven gave this band its unique characteristics. During this era the group sounded like original Mogollar. The later band included numerous individuals e.g. Elif Turhan, Ahmet Guvenc, Bahadir Akkuzu, Cihangir Akkuzu and Eser Taskiran.

Manco died of a sudden heart attack.