Tarkan

Tarkan's effect on Turkey has been compared by the Washington Post to that of Elvis Presley in the US around 1957 and Atlantic Records's co-founder Ahmet Ertegun described him as one of the best live performers he had ever seen.

He has also been listed by Rhapsody as a key artist in the history of European pop music, with his signature song "Şımarık" as a keystone track that moved the genre forward.

His albums have sold over 15 million copies.

Throughout his career, he has won four Turkey Music Awards, six Golden Butterfly Awards and one World Music Award and has received various nominations.

Tarkan Tevetoğlu (born 17 October 1972) is a Turkish singer-songwriter.

Tarkan Tevetoğlu was born on 17 October 1972 in Alzey, West Germany, to Neşe and Ali Tevetoğlu.

His mother named him after the comic book character Tarkan.

The name Tarkan is said to originate from an ancient Turkic king or title, meaning bold and strong.

Tarkan's interest in music began in childhood.

In 1986, he moved to Turkey together with his family.

Tarkan, who had been interested in music since his childhood, went to high school at Karamürsel and took music lessons.

In the following years, he met the owner of İstanbul Plak, Mehmet Söğütoğlu, and signed a contract to release his own album.

Tarkan and his five siblings moved to Turkey in 1986 with their parents settled in Karamürsel, Kocaeli.

After his father's death, his mother married an architect, Seyhun Kahraman.

Tarkan has three step-siblings named Adnan, Gülay and Nuray, from his mother's first marriage, and a brother, Hakan, and a younger sister, Handan, from her marriage to his father.

Tarkan started his high school there and took Turkish Art and Music lessons at the Karamürsel Advanced Music Association.

After his family moved to Istanbul, he continued his music studies at the Uskudar Music Society and started performing at various venues.

After finishing high school, he made plans to move to Germany for higher education and meanwhile he signed a contract with İstanbul Plak's owner Mehmet Söğütoğlu to release his first album.

Since the early 1990s, with the successful sales of his albums, he has been a prominent figure of pop music, recognized in Turkey and worldwide.

Tarkan was born and raised in Alzey, Rhineland-Palatinate.

Tarkan released his first album Yine Sensiz in late 1992 with "Kıl Oldum" being chosen as its lead single.

Tarkan's first album, Yine Sensiz, was released on cassettes by İstanbul Plak on 26 December 1992.

He wrote the lyrics for three of the album's songs, and composed three other songs himself and chose "Kıl Oldum" to be its lead single.

On 18 June 1993, three new versions of the album were released on CD.

Alongside "Kıl Oldum", he made music videos for the songs "Kimdi", "Gelip de Halimi Gördün mü?", "Vazgeçemem" and "Çok Ararsın Beni".

The album sold 700,000 copies in total.

Wrote one critic: "It happened maybe for the first time in the world of [Turkish] music, that "slang" words were used in songs and the brave young man began to draw attention as much with his songs as with his green eyes."

His second and third albums, Aacayipsin and Ölürüm Sana, were released in 1994 and 1998 respectively.

The song "Şımarık" from Ölürüm Sana became popular in a number of countries.

In May 1994, his second studio album Aacayipsin was released in Turkey; it was subsequently released in Germany and Russia in 1996 and 1998 respectively.

In 1998, he signed a new contract with Universal Music Group.

In 1999, his compilation album, Tarkan, received platinum and gold certifications in several countries.

In 2001, he made music videos for the songs "Kuzu Kuzu", "Hüp" and "Verme" from his fourth studio album Karma.

Two years later, extended play Dudu performed well on the sales charts, and in 2006 with the release of his first English album, Come Closer, he became known in Europe.

"Bounce" and "Start the Fire" were the lead singles of this album.

The lyrics of the songs included in the album Metamorfoz were praised by the Turkish Language Association.

In 2010, his seventh studio album, Adımı Kalbine Yaz, became the best-selling album of the year in Turkey.

In 2016, his ninth album, Ahde Vefa, which has a Classical Turkish theme, was released.

Alongside his music career, Tarkan has taken part in numerous social projects and is known as "Megastar" and "Prince of the Bosporus" in the press.

One of few European singers who has managed to span chart success without singing in English, he is also noted for his live stage performances.