| Athena rocks the Eurovision Song Contest: “For Real”
The four-man combo Athena has known since September 2003 that it would have their grand entrance on the Eurovision Song Contest stage in May 2004, competing for Turkey.
Internally appointed by the heads of the Turkish TV channel TRT, only the song Athena would try and follow in Sertab Erener’s footsteps with was subject to the viewers’ televotes. And this was done in the show “Saysal Gece” at the end of January 2004.
There were three songs to choose from:
-„For real“
-„Easy Man“
-„I love Mud on my Face“.
As it turned out, the viewers were least up for mudslinging – 10% and 3rd place. It was the song “For Real” that was to win the race as the national favourite, making it to 79% of the votes.
And for all those who are now racking their brains wondering: Athena? ... here’s a short biography to give you a helping hand:
Athena – short biography
It all began when brothers Hakan and Gokhan Ozoguz found out in 1987 (at the age of about 11) what cool things electric guitars were ... and how much cooler still it was to have a real band of their own. No sooner said than done!
The brothers were given guitar lessons by none less than Umit Yilbar, ex-guitarist of “Pentagram”. The band was set up for good in 1990, with the line-up still subject to change, but good enough to have a demo (“Punished Society”) received with interest.
Three years went by before the trash-album “One last Breath” came out; the follow-up advanced Athena to stardom in the Istanbul bar scene.
Since there are always have to be a few biting the dust on the way, bass player Asrin Tuncer was replaced by Ozan Karacuha on the way to fame.
Athena landed their first big hit in 1999: Warming up for the long-standing heroes of Rock ’n’ Roll, the four Turkish stars set the Ali Sami Yen stadium, crowded with Stones’ fans, thoroughly on fire. Things started rolling now.
- In November 1999 the album “Tam Zamani Simdi” came out
- Athena got invited to the Popkomm festival in Cologne
- AND: Athena started the “12 Giant Men” project – a song for the national basketball team
Today, Athena are:
Gokhan Ozoguz (vocals, electric guitar)
Hakan Ozoguz (guitar, backing vocals)
Ozan Musluoglu (bass)
Dogac Titiz (percussion) |
