Learn Turkish: 'Can' diye bir gitarist şöhret kazanmadan önce burada çalmıştı. - A guitarist called 'Can' had played here before gaining fame.

In this structure, [Name] diye bir [Noun] is a natural way to introduce someone or something by name, meaning 'a [Noun] called/named [Name]'. Because diye comes from the verb demek (to say), you can think of it literally as 'a guitarist saying Can'. It is very common in everyday speech, especially when introducing a name the listener probably hasn't heard before.

Could we leave out diye and just say Can bir gitarist?

No, because Can bir gitarist is a complete sentence meaning 'Can is a guitarist'. To turn it into a single subject phrase meaning 'a guitarist named Can' for the main verb çalmıştı, you must use a connector like diye or adında.

Why is it kazanmadan önce instead of using a past tense ending before önce?

To say 'before doing an action', Turkish always attaches -madan or -meden to the verb root, regardless of when the event happened. You only use past-looking suffixes with sonra (after), such as kazandıktan sonra (after gaining fame).

Why does the sentence use the double suffix in çalmıştı instead of just çaldı?