ASIM CAN GUNDUZ - AWESOME JOHN

Outside of his native nation of Turkey, his English speaking fans named him “Awesome John”) because his actual Turkish name ( Asim Can Gunduz) was to hard to pronounce and sounded very close to “Awesome John” and secondly because his performances on stage are totally Awesome!. Originally born in Istanbul he was raised a native New Yorker after immigrating to the USA with his parents at age of 4. The son of Turkish immigrants Awesome John lived in New York City until early 1980s known then in NYC as John Gundez and Asim Gunduz, where he formed many legendary NYC cult bands like “Concrete Sky, Zacheria, Gundez, Katawba". In his early years he played mostly hard driving power trio original material 3 piece rock band style. Influenced in his youth by the guitar greats such as Jimi Hendrix, Grand Funk Railroad, Mountain, Alvin Lee , Johnny Winter, Cream, Black Sabbath, Led Zeplin etc he was acclaimed by New York critics as “The coming of the next Guitar idol”. Then he was selected out of thousands of guitarists and cast as in the Starring role as Jimi Hendrix is the NYC Broadway musical tribute “Jimi and Janis Together Again”. Awesome John then sold out 4 nights straight at the legendary Famous New York Greenwich Village night club “The Bottom Line”. While being interviewed live on NYC radio the club owner of the famous Bottom Line club” called him “the best guitarist he ever heard”,. Awesome John then went on tour performing across America. He opened for many greats such as Leslie West, Billy Cobham, Deep Purple and many others. He became known for his soaring guitar performances and his ability to really “get the audience cheering”. During these performances he was touted by critics as "the coming of the new Jimi Hendrix". His promising career in the USA was cut short after the poor health of his parents forced Gündüz to return to Turkey at the height of his USA career. Once returning to Turkey Awesome John saw great political turmoil in his native country as youth were shooting each other in the streets brain washed by opposing political fractions. Awesome John took it as a personal mission upon himself to try and make a positive change in the social fabric of Turkey during these turbulent years. His message was “hey kids forget the guns pick up the guitars lets all have fun like normal teens do everywhere, you have the right to be happy, forget the fighting, lets rock!” . He formed many socially influential rock bands like Ambulans, Delikanli-, Affetmez, Çapkinlar, Hard Raki., Gündüz finished the sessions for his first album Anasinin Gözü Cin Gibi in 1989, but it could only be released three years after, in 1992 after bitter battles with Turkish censorship. During this time the tapes of these original and influential recordings were heavily circulated (during that time period of three years 1989-1992) these first recordings had a great influence on the entire music industry in Turkey leading to the birth of totally new musical genres such as “Turkish Rap, Turkish Political satirical POP, Hard Oriental Rock and Turkish Blues etc. Later Gündüz released his second album “Bir Sevgi Eseri / A Work Of Love “in 1998 a project that he dedicated to the memory of his late mother. This album was also the first of its kind in that it consisted of Turkish versions of great romantic blues classic hits in.. It took Awesome John 6 years to convince Eric Clapton, Gary Moore, Lionel Ritchie, George Michaels, Sam Brown Richard Marks and Carlos Santana to allow him to perform their music in Turkish and release it in Turkey. It was difficult because up until that time Turkey had a very bad record of royally infringements. To over come this Awesome John became one of the founding members of the musical association “MSG” which is the equivalent of ASCAP. Awesome John then went on to actively influence the Turkish media (which at that time had just been released from the Federal “one channel only” restrictions and was in its infancy blossoming into a multi channeled nation. During this time has starred on many TV and radio shows, on ATV and Power FM (of -istanbul ),Kiss FM, TRT 1 and many others. Outspoken and outlandish in his media presence. Asim Can Gündüz is best known for his high energy guitar shows and powerful stage presence. But he is also very active in charity work and social service for the needy, having done countless charity concerts and fund raisers for victims of poverty and natural disasters Gündüz Asim Can Gündüz is a mixture of modern electric guitar virtuoso, stage show man and talk show host, and social activist all in one, making him very unusual amongst Turkish Pop icons. He is credited with being the first artist to perform Turkish Rap, Turkish Hard Rock, and Turkish blues .His virtuoso guitar skills and colorful showmanship has attracted viewers from around the world to Awesome John related videos and info on the internet. It was only after the year 2000 that Asim Can Gündüz / Awesome John once again started touring and performing outside of his native Turkey performing thrilling shows regularly posted on public internet video sites creating great interest from internet viewers. Through this ever growing interest he has accepted concert offers and has had wonderful success with concerts and appearances in Europe, Russia, and the USA. It seems that the long absence he took off from his international career to concentrate on “helping out his nation stop killing each other and just chill out and rock together” is now entering a new international phase where the entire world is getting a chance to see and experience this uniquely gifted performer for first time themselves. Awesome John has always been there, always rocking, always spreading the love…. He is better than ever and ready rock the world any time any where! Hold on to your seats he is one of those magical performers you never forget he is “The Real Deal” still rocking audiences around the world Rock and Blues Guitarist, Singer, Song Writer