Artist Tahir Nejat Özyılmazel, whom we know with his stage name Neco, was born in Yozgat in 1948. Neco, who comes from a family of Macedonian origin, completed his education at Pertevniyal High School. The artist's life was not limited only to music, he also took an active role in the sports world; He held important positions such as membership of the Turkish National Olympic Committee and manager of Beşiktaş Gymnastics Club.
When we look at his private life, Neco was first married to Oya Germen in 1975, and they had two daughters named Zeynep and Ayşe. The artist, who divorced Oya Germen in 2007, got married to İdil Erge in 2008 and their daughter Leyla was born in the same year. Neco recently had another son named Ali Nejat.
Neco, who took the first step in his musical career with the Altınparmaklar Orchestra in 1964, later took part in ensembles such as the Lines Orchestra and the Silhouettes Orchestra. In 1967, he founded the Moğollar group with Murat Ses, Aziz Azmet and Aydın Daruga, but soon parted ways and joined the Aydemir Mete Orchestra.
The artist, who was also included in İlhan Feyman's team during this period, made his first radio program in 1968, and in this program his stage name "Neco" met with the listeners for the first time. Neco, who joined the Şerif Kaptanoğlu Orchestra in 1969, worked with names such as Atilla Özdemiroğlu, Salim Ağırbaş and Selçuk Başar, and was also involved in the establishment of the Istanbul Gelişim Orchestra in the late 1970s.
The artist, who appeared on the stage with the musical "HAİR‑SAÇ" in 1971, focused on his solo career since 1974 and became known in the music world under the name Neco.
One of the important milestones in Neco's musical life is the 45-record "Ne Bu Halimiz Olmaz / Gülmeleri Unutan Adam", which he released at the end of 1974. He became internationally known with his song "Don't Be Angry at Me / Pink Panther" in 1975. The artist, who received great acclaim for his role as Che in the musical "Evita" in 1989, managed to become one of the artists most representing Türkiye by focusing on international activities the following year.
At the end of the 2000s, he added a different dimension to his art by contributing to the music, composition and lyrics of the musical "LESSONS" together with Levent Kırca.
We see that Neco has achieved many successes throughout his award-filled career. In 1976, she became the best singer and second place at the Sopot International Music Festival in Poland, and in the same year, she took the first place at the first international music festival in Istanbul. He took part as a guest artist at the Bratislava Music Festival in 1977, and won the best singer and second place at the Golden Orfe Music Festival in 1978.
While she ranked 15th in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1982 with her song "Hani", she received the most valuable singer and third place awards at the Seoul Music Festival in the same year. He won first place at the Çeşme International Music Festival in 1986. In addition to his music career, Neco also came to the fore with his acting aspect, starred in many films and appeared in the TV series "Tatlı Hayat" with names such as Türkan Şoray, Haluk Bilginer and Çolpan İlhan.
