Alev Lenz (born 17 January 1982, in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

) is a Turkish–German,

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

-nominated record producer, singer-songwriter and composer.

Career

Lenz, the daughter of a

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

mother and a German father, signed her first publishing deal with

BMG Music Publishing Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music com ...

in 2001 with the first recordings of her former band "Alev". At first her father was against her plans to become a musician. After three years of touring and the release of "We live in Paradise", Lenz left the band. Lenz also left Germany to go to New York City to perform and her original new material. She played Open Mikes and her first concerts as Alev Lenz Solo. Lenz achieved some success in Turkey, mainly through her several TV appearances on Turkish television on the shows of the popular Turkish showmaster

Okan Bayülgen Kaan Okan Bayülgen (born 23 March 1964) is a Turkish actor, theater founder, variety, talk show host, comedian, photographer, dubbing performer, writer, director. Early life Bayülgen was born on 23 March 1964 in Istanbul, Turkey, to a lawyer ...

. Lenz founded her own record company with her management and Groove Attack/Rough Trade in 2008. Her debut album ''Storytelling Piano Playing Fräulein'' was released on 13 February 2009, and is available in stores in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and worldwide on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

and

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...

. The album was produced in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

with Don Philippe, a member of the group

Freundeskreis Freundeskreis (meaning "Circle of Friends") also known as FK, were a German hip hop group from Stuttgart. They performed songs in German language, German, English language, English, French language, French and Esperanto. The members were Max Her ...

. Her collaborator on her second album was acclaimed drummer and multi-instrumentalist

Samuli Kosminen Edea is a Finnish musical group. The Edea's song lyrics are written in an older form of the Finnish language and speak of old traditions as well. The mysterious runic symbols inscribed on the bows of Viking boats, door posts, drinking vessels, and ...

of Mùm and mixed by Jas Shaw (

Simian Mobile Disco Simian Mobile Disco are an English electronic music duo and production team, formed in 2003 by James Ford and Jas Shaw of the band Simian. Musically, they are known for their analogue production. Ford is also known for his production work. ...

). Since the release of her debut album back in 2009, in her home country of Germany, Alev has kept herself busy with gigs in London, New York and across Germany, as well as composing soundtracks for several high-profile German films, and collaborating with and producing for established artists such as

Anoushka Shankar Anoushka Hemangini Shankar (born 9 June 1981) is a British-American sitar player and musician of Indian descent, as well as occasional writer. She performs across multiple genres and styles—Indian classical, classical and contemporary, acoust ...

on the Grammy-nominated Album, 'Land of Gold’ (

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

), and Grammy-nominated EP, 'Love Letters’ (Mercury KX) and Roomful of Teeth. Lenz's big breakthrough came in 2016 when her song ‘Fall into Me’ was used in

Charlie Brooker Charlton ‘Charlie’ Brooker (born 3 March 1971) is an English screenwriter, producer, presenter, author, cartoonist, and social critic. He first became known for creating and presenting satirical television shows that featured biting criticis ...

’s

Black Mirror ''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology series, anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Most episodes are set in near-future dystopias containing Science fiction, sci-fi technology—a type of speculative fiction. The series i ...

episode, ’

Hated in the Nation "Hated in the Nation" is the sixth and final episode in the third series of the British science fiction anthology series ''Black Mirror''. Written by series creator and showrunner Charlie Brooker and directed by James Hawes, it premiered on Net ...

’. Lenz has since been played on NPR

All Songs Considered ''All Songs Considered'' is a weekly online podcast and radio program hosted by Robin Hilton. It was created in January 2000 by NPR's ''All Things Considered'' then-director Bob Boilen and produced by Robin Hilton beginning in 2001. At first, ...

WNYC WNYC is an audio service brand, under the control of New York Public Radio, a non-profit organization. Radio and other audio programming is primarily provided by a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations: WNYC (AM) and WNYC- ...

New Sounds ''New Sounds'' was originally a 10" LP compiling previously released 78 rpm records on the Blue Note label. A CD reissue with the same name and cover appeared in 1991, but while using many of the same personnel, had only two tracks in common with ...

and mentioned by the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

, as the vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth have since taken up her song into their live programme. Most recently Alev's single ‘May the Angels’ from ‘3’ featured on season two of critically acclaimed Netflix series

Dark Darkness is the condition resulting from a lack of illumination, or an absence of visible light. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low luminance because the hue-sensitive photoreceptor cells on the retina are ...

. The series features songs from

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

Agnes Obel Agnes Caroline Thaarup Obel (born 28 October 1980) is a Danish singer, songwriter, and musician based in Berlin. Her debut album, ''Philharmonics (album), Philharmonics'' (2010), was released by PIAS Recordings, and was certified gold in June ...

and Apparat, with a score composed by Ben Frost. ‘Splendid Soldiers’, 'Fall into Me'’s Album version, has been featured on the third season of The Rain. Alev has also contributed vocals to Volker Bertelmann's (

Hauschka Volker Bertelmann (born 11 October 1966) is a German composer, pianist and former rapper who mainly performs and records under the name Hauschka. He is best known for his compositions for prepared piano. He won an Academy Award and a British Ac ...

) score for the US-film Downhill,

Stowaway A stowaway or clandestine traveller is a person who secretly boards a vehicle, such as a ship, an aircraft, a train, cargo truck or bus. Sometimes, the purpose is to get from one place to another without paying for transportation. In other c ...

and Netflix movie The Old Guard with

Dustin O'Halloran Dustin O'Halloran (born September 8, 1971) is an American composer and pianist. Aside from releasing music as a recording artist, O'Halloran is a film and TV composer, as well as one half of ambient act A Winged Victory for the Sullen. Early li ...

. Alev's third studio album ‘3’ was released on

Spitfire Audio Spitfire Audio is an English technology company based in London that creates virtual instrument sample libraries used for music production. The company was founded in 2007 by professional composers Christian Henson and Paul Thomson. Products ...

's SA Recordings, and sample libraries were released in conjunction with the album release.

Discography

;Albums: ;;Solo *''Storytelling Piano Playing Fräulein'' (2009) *''Two-Headed Gïrl'' (2016) *''3'' (2019) ;Soundtracks *''

A Year Ago in Winter ''A Year Ago in Winter'' () is a 2008 German drama film directed by Caroline Link. It is based on the novel ''Aftermath'' by American author Scott Campbell, telling the story of a "complicated family situation" after the unexpected and unexplained ...

'' (2008) (

Caroline Link Caroline Link (born 2 June 1964) is a German TV and film director and screenwriter. She is best known for directing critically acclaimed Beyond Silence, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, and for dir ...

) *' (2009) *'' Wedding Fever in Campobello'' (2009) *''

Bon appétit ''Bon Appétit'' is a monthly American food and entertaining magazine, that typically contains recipes, entertaining ideas, restaurant recommendations, and wine reviews. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered at the One World Trade Center ...

'' (2010) *' (2012) *''The Dead and the Living'' (2012) *'' The Girl with Nine Wigs'' (2013) *' (2013) *''

'' (Black Mirror) (2016) ;Producer *''Two-Headed Gïrl'' (2016) *''3'' (2019) *''Love Letters''

(2020) *''Risha'' Ruba Shamshoum (2021) *''Love Letters P.S.''

(2021) ;;With Alev *''We live in Paradise'' *''Broken'' *''Breakable''

References

External links

Official websiteIMDBAlev Lenz Interview – Nakedly Examined Music (2020)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lenz, Alev 1982 births Living people Turkish singer-songwriters German people of Turkish descent Musicians from Munich German women singer-songwriters German singer-songwriters 21st-century German women singers