İzel Çeliköz, commonly known as İzel, is a famous Turkish pop singer. She was originally part of the Turkish pop trio İzel-Çelik-Ercan but after the group broke up in 1993, she decided to release solo albums. She is one of the most successful Turkish singers of the 1990s and 2000s.
İzel Çeliköz was born in 1969 in Yalova, Turkey. She graduated from the İ.T.Ü. Devlet Konservatuarı in which she had mastered the kemençe, a type of violin. She also was part of her school choir as well as several other choirs in the city. Her first official release was a collaboration with Reyhan Karaca for the 1991 Eurovision Song Contest on the song İki Dakika. Later that year, she formed a band with Ercan Saatçi and Çelik Erişçi called İzel-Çelik-Ercan and released an album titled Özledim. In 1993, İzel won first place in the Kuşadası Altın Güvercin Müzik Yarışması. After deciding to start releasing solo albums, İzel released her solo debut album titled Adak. This album was produced by Aykut Gürel and former band member Ercan Saatçi. The first music video for this album for this album was the song Hasretim and became one of the top songs of the year. The credits of the album included upcoming Turkish singers Bendeniz, Eda-Metin Özülkü, Kenan Doğulu, Seden Gürel and Yıldız Tilbe. During this time, İzel gave many concerts throughout Turkey. In 1997, İzel released her second solo album titled Emanet which featured Mustafa Sandal on the opening track as well as listing him as a producer. In 1999 İzel released her third album Bir küçük aşk.
