Seyyal Taner

Seyyal Taner — Biography

Seyyal Taner (born September 28, 1952, in Şanlıurfa) is a Turkish singer and actress. After her family settled in Istanbul, she graduated from the American Girls' College, studied ballet externally at the Istanbul State Conservatory, and began taking music lessons from Şerif Yüzbaşıoğlu in 1965. While singing as an amateur with the Kanat Gür Orchestra, she met the group Los Bravos, which led to a role in a Spanish musical film in 1968 and a small part in Villa Rides. Back in Turkey, she became known for femme fatale roles in many films. Her brief marriage in Germany to Los Bravos guitarist Peter Harold produced a daughter before she returned home.

Turning from cinema to music, Taner released her first single in 1974 and achieved her breakthrough in 1976 with Son Verdim Kalbimin İşine. Hits such as Kalbimi Affettim and Gülme Komşuna earned her three consecutive Golden Record awards. Unlike the era's stationary vocalists, she sang and danced on stage with her own dancers, bringing rock energy into the traditional nightclub scene, and the press dubbed her Turkey's "homegrown Tina Turner." In 1987 she represented Turkey at the Eurovision Song Contest with the group Lokomotif and the song Şarkım Sevgi Üstüne. Songs like Naciye, Leyla, and Nanay secured her place as one of the boldest voices in Turkish pop-rock.