Turkish singer Tarkan is well known to modern pop music lovers. His songs are great for hearing and easy to remember, and a bright, charismatic appearance has broken more than one million women's hearts both in Turkey and in other countries.
Childhood star
Tarkan is the abbreviated name of the singer. The full one sounds like Husametin Tarkan Tevetoglu, where Tevetoglu is the last name, and Husametin is the name given at birth. It is translated from Turkish as "sharp sword."
The future showman was born on October 17, 1972 in the German city of Alzey, where his parents emigrated from Turkey, fleeing the economic crisis that erupted in his homeland. The family was large - in addition to siblings, Tarkan has three more steps - from the mother’s first marriage.
With the birth of one of the most famous Turks of our time, several family legends are associated. The first says that during pregnancy, the mother of Tarkan after a terrible accident fell into a coma. Doctors insisted on an artificial miscarriage, predicting the child serious health problems. But the father of the future king of dance music genre had a dream about a newborn boy with a star in his forehead. And they left the baby. The dream turned out to be prophetic. A month after the traffic accident, the woman got out of the coma, and after some time gave birth to a completely healthy child.
According to the second legend, the nurses in the maternity hospital told the mother of Tarkan that her son would definitely be a singer - he was crying very loudly. And so it happened.
True, the fact that his vocation is music, Tarkan did not immediately understand. For a long time he dreamed of becoming a veterinarian or environmentalist. But, noting the son’s vocal abilities, his parents sent him to a music school. At that time, the boy was thirteen years old, and the family had already moved back to Turkey, somewhat recovering from economic shocks.
Student years
After graduating from school, Tarkan almost made the biggest mistake in his life, trying to enroll as an engineer at Mimar Sinan University, which is located in Istanbul. But, fortunately, the exam turned out to be too tough for the young man, and then the biography of Tarkan is on the right track. The guy returns to Chynardzhik, and already in 1990 he became a student of the Istanbul Academy of Music, who completely conquered him.
Dreaming someday to conquer this beautiful city, Tarkan diligently studies, and in order to earn a living, moonlight as a singer in the capital's restaurants. Perhaps, Husametin Tevetoglu would continue to “haggle” in restaurants until the end of his life, and the world would never have heard the name Tarkan, the songs of which are widely heard today ... But chance intervened.
First big success
Once, a student at a music academy went to visit his brother in Germany. And there he accidentally met a certain Mehmet Soyutulu, working in a famous Turkish recording studio.
Hearing the singing of Tarkan, a new acquaintance was struck by his vocal abilities and offered his help in promotion. Mehmet assured the future singer that he has a great future, and if fate gives such a chance, he should definitely use it.
The young and ambitious guy who wants to conquer at least Turkey, naturally accepted the offer, and already in 1992 he released his first album “Again Without You” (Yine Sensiz). The debut work was quite a big success, with a circulation of seven hundred thousand copies. Turkish youth, tired of old-fashioned singers, cheered a man named Tarkan. His songs gained popularity.
Two years later, in the ninety-fourth, the second album of Tarkan was released, which was sold almost three times better than the first. The listeners especially liked the songs written by Césen Aksu, with whom the singer began a fruitful collaboration. Among her compositions was more than once intertwined by domestic stars, the world-famous Şıkıdım.
Europe and the USA
Further, the biography of Tarkan leads us outside of Turkey. Having conquered his native country with lightning speed, a young handsome man goes on his first overseas tour. And, of course, Germany was chosen as the debut platform.
Quite unexpectedly, both for himself and for his producer, the Turkish singer, even before the start of the tour, took the leading places in the German charts. And this despite the fact that not a single song in English, and even more so in German, was not in the program of Tarkan.
Concerts in Germany are held with great success, and the young star decides not to stop in Europe. In the same 1994, Tarkan flies to the United States, where he studies at New York Baruch College and is actively learning English, planning to sing it soon.
In the states of Tarkan, a new producer appeared - Ahmet Ertegan, who was trying to promote a promising Turk in the vastness of the New World. But the matter was progressing with great difficulty. The spoiled American public was not particularly interested in Turkish motives, which cannot be said about the old Europe. Very quickly, Tarkan’s popularity went beyond Germany, and the third 1997 album Ölürüm Sana (Ölürüm Sana) diverges in a circulation of three and a half million copies and leads to the prestigious European World Music Awards. The singer is called the prince of Turkish music, his songs are recognized by the first three notes.
But in the United States, Tarkan, whose albums in this country were sold out much worse, felt free and could rest from the costs of fame. That is why the singer acquires an apartment in Manhattan and spends free time from touring in it.
Problems at home
The end of the nineties was marked for the star not only by huge success, but also by serious problems. It was time for Tarkan to join the army, and neither fame nor money could save him from this. The celebrity was forced to hide from the military enlistment office abroad, and the Turkish authorities even wanted to deprive the "deviator" of citizenship.
The problem was resolved in the most unexpected way. After the terrible earthquake that befell Turkey in 1999, a law was passed in the country according to which philanthropists who contributed sixteen thousand dollars to the fund of the victims of the disaster were reduced to twenty-eight days in the army . And, of course, Tarkan did not fail to take advantage of this law. Having paid the fee and marching the prescribed month, he said goodbye to military service forever.
Russia
Then, at the finish of the twentieth century, the creative biography of Tarkan is enriched by the conquest of the Russian public. The songs of a charismatic Turk are played at discos throughout the country, they occupy the top of the charts.
Having met Tarkan in absentia, the Russians were glad to see him at concerts in their cities. And they even recognized the song “Dudu” as “Song of the Year”, which also brought the artist the “100 Pound Hit” award.
Early 2000s
It should be noted that not only music brings success to fans of a hot Turkish guy . In 2001, Tarkan became the face of Pepsi in his homeland, and he was also adored by football fans, for whom, after the song Bir Ă–lĂĽrĂĽz Yolunda, he became the mascot of the Turkish national team.
At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the star spends a lot of time in America, where he undergoes plastic surgery and lights up with the idea to open his own business. So the biography of Tarkan is replenished with an interesting and rather unexpected point - the launch of the Tarkan perfume line. Fans are richer with pleasure buying up idol toilet water for $ 80. And those who are poorer are forced to be content with a shower gel for thirty bucks.
But the dazzling Tarkan does not forget about the main activity. The 2001 Karma and 2003 Dudu albums were a great success both at home and in Europe. They are very different from what was recorded earlier, but this is to the benefit of the singer. Like his new look: long hair, skinny jeans, unbuttoned shirts ... Tarkan becomes the trendsetter of youth fashion in his homeland.
English attempt
The dream to release an English-language album appeared at Tarkan as early as his very first visit to America. For a long time, the plans remained unfulfilled, and in 2006 a disc called Come Closer finally came out. Fifteen compositions were included in its composition, and not one of them, alas, became an absolute hit. It can be said that the English-language attempt of Tarkan failed. Sales did not exceed the mark of even one hundred thousand copies. Therefore, the next record of singer Metamorfoz in 2007 was again completely in Turkish. And the fans forgave the idol.
Further work by Metamorfoz Remixes, Adımı Kalbine Yaz only secured success. Tarkan to this day remains the prince of Turkish pop music, giving out one hit after another on the mountain. Among the most popular works of recent years, such his compositions: Yemin Ettim, Kuzu Kuzu, Hop De and many others.
Scandals
The biography of celebrities, as a rule, is not without scandals. And Tarkan is no exception in this regard. The first scandal hit the head of the singer’s fans after he wrote the book “Tarkan: Anatomy of the Star”. That was in the early 2000s. Critics then accused the author of plagiarism.
And the second resonant situation was triggered by the release of the video for the song HĂĽp. Some of the Turkish public considered the scenes present in the video to be pornographic.
Gossip
Rumors are also commonplace in the life of stars. Why not just talk about Tarkan! But the most persistent talk goes around the singer’s unconventional orientation, as well as around his addiction to drugs.
Both the first and second Tarkan denied in his interviews. Although there was a biography about his incident when during a large-scale raid by the Turkish police he was "caught" together with other well-known figures in a private villa and charged with drug use and possession. True, after a couple of days the singer was released. And it is still unknown whether the accusation was a mistake of the police or Tarkan just managed to pay off the law enforcement agencies.
Personal life
As for the personal life of the prince of Turkish pop music, unfortunately the fans, 44-year-old Tarkan got married not so long ago. The chosen one was Pynar Dilek - his devoted fan, whom he met at one of the concerts in Germany. The wedding ceremony was organized on the territory of the singer’s own villa.
Before that, he had a lot of girls. The most famous novel was a relationship with Bilge OztĂĽrk, which the couple did not hide from anyone, even put them on display. They lasted six years, but in 2008 ended with a break, without leading to marriage.
Today Tarkan is a happy newly made husband. He has everything: beauty, love, talent, world fame, money, an apartment in Manhattan worth five million dollars, a ranch near Istanbul with a gorgeous garden ...