Arzu Ece represented Turkey in 1995 in Dublin with a powerful ballad “ Sev” which means “Love” in Turkish. This was the 40th Eurovision Song Contest and she finished with a respectable 16th placement out of 23 countries with 21 points. Arzu Ece was not new to ESC at that time. She had had five appearances in Turkish preselections between 1987 -1995 and also had represented Turkey in 1989 as a member of group Pan with a song named “Bana bana”, which was quite a different flavor for Eurovision standards at the time.
After Eurovision, she did not have a very active music career although she published two albums in her music life.
Sadly in 2009, she was diagnosed with leukemia and underwent a series of treatments. She recorded a single titled “ Kemo Aga” (Master Chemo) in 2012 where she shared her experiences and also her hair loss due to chemotherapy. Her courage and resilience expressed with an upbeat song was quite impressive especially if you remember her big beautiful black hair in 1995. She currently lives in Boca Raton Florida and actively participating in Turkish community events.
Here is her 2012 video-Master Chemo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK-2JprBgAQ
Sevket Yigit