Neşet was the second of four children; he had an older half-brother, Necati, from his father's first marriage and two younger sisters, Ayşe and Nadiye.

[4] At the age of five and six, Neşet Ertaş started to play first the violin and then the bağlama, the Turkish national instrument.

His father earned his living by playing at wedding ceremonies in Central Anatolian villages, and for eight years Neşet accompanied him.

There, he recovered from his paralysis, and started again to perform music at wedding ceremonies and local events attended by members of the Turkish community in Germany.

It is claimed that due to flawed copyright laws in Turkey, he did not fully benefit from his poems, music and audio recordings.

With his forceful baglama, his warm voice and his pure and simple language, Neşet Ertaş gathered the people of Central Anatolia first, and then the entire country.

[1][4] In 2006, the Turkish Grand National Assembly rewarded him the State Medal of Distinguished Service, which he accepted, in his words, "on behalf of [his] ancestry".

[6] Ertaş died on 25 September 2012 at the age of 74 in a hospital in İzmir after being taken in two weeks previously for prostate cancer treatment.

After the religious funeral held in Ahi Evran Mosque, which was attended by high-ranked politicians such as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Minister of Culture Ertuğrul Günay and opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and renowned people from the Turkish music scene such as Orhan Gencebay and Arif Sağ along with ten thousand others, he was buried at the foot of his father's grave as he had requested in his will.