Tarkan Tevetoğlu (Turkish pronunciation: [taɾˈkan teˈvetoːɫu]; born 17 October 1972) is a German-born Turkish singer-songwriter.
Tarkan was born and raised in Alzey, Rhineland-Palatinate, in what was then West Germany. In 1986, he moved to Turkey together with his family. Tarkan 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 record music.
Tarkan released his first studio album, Yine Sensiz, in late 1992, with "Kıl Oldum" being chosen as its lead single. His second one, Aacayipsin, was released in 1994, while his third, Ölürüm Sana, in 1998: the latter included the song "Şımarık" ("spoilt" in Turkish), that became popular in a number of countries, also for its English version, "Kiss Kiss". In the same year he signed a new contract with Universal Music Group, and 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, while two years later, Extended Play Dudu performed well on the sales charts. With the release in 2006 of his first English album, Come Closer, he became known in Europe: from this Long Play were selected "Bounce" and "Start the Fire" as the lead singles. In 2007 was the time of his seventh album, Metamorfoz, whose lyrics of the songs included were praised by the Turkish Language Association. In 2010, his eighth studio album, Adımı Kalbine Yaz, became the best-selling album of the year in Turkey, and in 2016 was released his ninth album, Ahde Vefa, which has a Classical Turkish theme.
Alongside his music career, Tarkan has taken part in social projects and is known as "Megastar" and "Prince of the Bosporus" in the press. 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 was born on 17 October 1972 in Alzey, then in 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. 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 is an Alevi through his mother.
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.
1992–2000: Yine Sensiz, Aacayipsin and Ölürüm Sana
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."
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. Artists Sezen Aksu, Ümit Sayın, Ozan Çolakoğlu and Yıldız Tilbe were among those who were featured on the album. Tarkan wrote the lyrics for four songs, three of which were also composed by him; "Hepsi Senin mi?", "Unutmamalı", "Gül Döktüm Yollarına", "Kış Güneşi", "Şeytan Azapta", "Dön Bebeğim" and "Bekle" were the songs that got separate music videos. Aacayipsin sold two and a half million copies and earned Tarkan the "Best Male Pop Music Artist" award at the Turkey Music Awards. The song "Hepsi Senin mi?" was also awarded with the "Best Lyrics", "Best Composition" and "Best Song" awards.
In 1994, he experienced a dip in his celebrity status after he made a gaffe during an interview on a live broadcast marking the anniversary of the private Turkish TV channel ATV. When asked how he was on live television, his response was "Çişim var, ağabey." ("I've gotta pee, man.") He was publicly criticised for the comment and only after performing traditional songs on another TV special did he endear himself again to the nation. In part to remove himself from media scrutiny, Tarkan moved to New York in 1994 to learn English and complete his education at Baruch College. While in the United States, he met the Turkish founder of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun. Tarkan has described Ertegun as his mentor in music and business. Ertegun, who died in December 2006, had long been preparing Tarkan for an American career.
In 1997, Tarkan founded his own production company Hitt Müzik and in the same year he released his third studio album Ölürüm Sana, which sold three and a half million copies. Tarkan himself did the songwriting and composition for many of the songs on this album. "Şımarık", "İkimizin Yerine", "Salına Salına Sinsice", "Ölürüm Sana" and "Kır Zincirlerini" were the songs for which music videos were made. "Şımarık" became a hit in many countries; ranking third in France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland; second in Norway; and first in Belgium; it also ranked 26th on Billboard list of Latin Pop Songs. The song was later performed by many other artists. The song "Kır Zincirleri" also made it into Germany, Belgium and France's music charts. A copyright dispute erupted between Tarkan and Aksu over the track "Şımarık", which ultimately blocked the singer's chance to release an English-language version of the song. The music was initially credited as composed by Aksu, Tarkan and Çolakoğlu, but Tarkan later admitted in a 2006 interview that this had been done without Aksu's consent, and that Aksu was the true copyright owner. This dispute ended their successful musical partnership and friendship.
In 1998, Tarkan signed a contract with Universal Music Group. In the same year, his compilation album Tarkan was released in a number of countries including France, Argentina, Russia and the Netherlands, and it also contained his signature songs from his previous albums. Tarkan sold one and a half million copies worldwide earning the singer a platinum certification from Mexico, and gold certifications from Germany, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Colombia and Luxembourg. In 1999, Tarkan, who already had high sales figures around the world, was honored at the World Music Awards as the Best-Selling Turkish Artist. As the first artist of Turkish origin to sell 500,000 albums in France, in an interview for CNN he said: "It feels wild, you know, because in the beginning I never thought it was going to really happen. It's all in Turkish, you know, and nobody understands a word. But I think it's a groove. It's the kisses that are universal."