17 October – I am avoiding all my friends

We don’t always celebrate soloists in this column. There are singers who perform in duets, trios and bigger. But no bigger than six, obviously.

Today we have a very active member of a trio who took part twice. It’s today’s birthday boy (Raif) Özkan Uğur. As you’ll have guessed, his pals were the M and F of MFÖ. They gave us a break from the Turkish trait of two men and two women and all wore natty white suits and hats – at least in 1985. If you know your history, 1985 was the best contest ever and, and Turkey scored its second ever maximum for this song, from Switzerland. Did it deserve more? Well, who else could have carried off those suits? Özkan is on the left.

Özkan is 66 today.

Doğum günün kutlu olsun, Özkan!