Defne Şahin, who was born in Berlin, is a jazz singer and composer. She studied jazz singing at the Berlin University of the Arts and the Escola Superior de Musica Barcelona. In 2014 she received a Master’s of Music in vocal jazz performance from the Manhattan School of Music in New York. She studied, among others, with David Friedman, Julia Hülsmann, and Theo Bleckmann. Her debut album, Yaşamak – To Live With the Words of Nâzım Hikmet, was released in the series “Jazz Thing Next Generation” on Double Moon Records and in Turkey on Kalan Müzik. Her second album Unravel (Fresh Sound Records) was produced by the Argentine pianist and composer Guillermo Klein. Şahin has given concerts at Carnegie Hall, New York, and all over the world, and has performed with musicians such as Jay Clayton, Elias Stemeseder, Fabian Almazan, and Henry Cole. In 2010 she received the Studio Award of the Berlin Senate and Elsa Neumann Grant, and in 2011 she was a participant in the Popcamp of the German Music Council. In 2016 she was sponsored by the Initiative Musik, and in 2017 she received the Jazz Scholarship of the Berlin Senate.
 
Defne Şahin was a resident at Tarabya Cultural Academy from March to June 2016 and June and September 2018.