Del.icio.usTarkan
Fact Sheet
| Musical genre: | Pop |
| Birthday | 17 October 1972 (35) |
| Sign | Libra |
| Birthplace | Alzey, Germany |
He is also known in Europe and the Americas, especially for the song Simarik (Spoilt/Kiss Kiss/Chanson Du Bisou/Besos). This was reincarnated as Kiss Kiss by Holly Valance after Sezen Aksu sold the music rights. This song is also rumoured to have ended the successful working relationship between Tarkan and Aksu as they fell into dispute about the ownership of the copyright to Simarik. They had collaborated on most of Tarkan's hits in Turkey and Europe. Another hit single was Sikidim (Shake).
Tarkan is also character of a popular Turkish comic series in 1960s. This is where Tarkan's parents adopted his name from.
Early life
Tarkan spent his childhood in Germany, his father was part of the generation of Turkish immigrants which came to West Germany during the West German economic boom, until suddenly he decided to move his family back to Turkey in 1986 when Tarkan was 14 years old.Career
Tarkan began to study music in Karamürsel. His road to fame began when he moved to Istanbul to prepare for University entrance exams in 1990. He had a difficult time in Istanbul and decided to move back to Germany. It was while he was preparing for the move back that he met Mehmet Sögütoglu, the chairman of Istanbul Plak. Istanbul Plak was Tarkan's first record label, his record label is now his own music company Hitt Music, which he established in 1997. His debut album Yine Sensiz (Without You Again) sold 700,000 copies. His second album A-acayipsin (Oh - You're Something Else) sold more than 2,000,000 copies in Turkey and 750,000 copies in Europe. This was a first-time-ever feat for a Turkish performer.Suddenly Tarkan had became a star overnight. Tarkan subsequently moved to New York in 1994 to escape the hordes of adoring fans that constantly stalked him and to complete his education at a college in the USA. While Tarkan spent time in the USA learning English, he met Ahmet Ertegün (the Turkish founder of Atlantic Records). Ertegün has been quietly grooming Tarkan for an American career ever since. His English language album is due to be released in October 2005 but under a Universal Germany ticket, as Tarkan has re-started the album several times.
In July 1997, the hit single Simarik was released in Turkey, along with the album Ölürüm Sana (I'd Die For You). This album took a total of three years to complete. Tarkan collaborated with Sezen Aksu and Ozan Çolakoglu for the album. He thanked them for this during his speech which he delivered after winning the Turkish TV Kral music award for his song Simarik. At home, Ölürüm Sana sold 3.5 million copies alone. When the album's single Simarik was released in 1999 in Europe, it reached No. 3 in places like Switzerland, France, Germany, and No.1 in Belgium and went platinum. He was awarded with his platinum disc at the Cannes Midem Awards. Following that he released a compliation album for Europe entitled Tarkan. He won a World Music Award in Monaco in the same year for the sales of that album. Tarkan released two more singles in Europe under the Universal ticket, Sikidim and Bu Gece (Tonight).
Tarkan traveled to Europe and Latin America to promote his music. He gave many international concerts during this period, 18 concerts in 17 cities in total.
In 2000 the self-titled album was released in the USA with a Universal Latino ticket.
In 2001 Tarkan released his first-ever single in Turkey called Kuzu Kuzu (Like A Lamb). Tarkan's following albums Karma in 2001 and his latest Turkish-language album Dudu (Woman), released in the summer of 2003 through Hitt Music, cemented his popularity in his parents' homeland. He has been the face of Pepsi in Turkey and was the official mascot of the Turkish national football team for the 2002 World Cup, recording the football song Bir Oluruz Yolunda (United For You) which became an anthem for the fans. He also released his own perfume range entitled "Tarkan" at the start of 2004.