Tarkan

Tarkan — Biography

Born on 17 October 1972 in Alzey, West Germany, Tarkan Tevetoğlu is one of the best-known figures in Turkish and European pop music. He moved to Turkey with his family in 1986, trained in classical Turkish music in Karamürsel, and soon after met İstanbul Plak owner Mehmet Söğütoğlu, who signed him to a recording contract and launched his career.

Tarkan broke through with his debut album Yine Sensiz (1992), then hit record sales with Aacayipsin (1994) and especially Ölürüm Sana (1997), whose single "Şımarık" charted in dozens of countries and turned him into an international star. He founded his own production company, HITT Music, in 1997 and signed with Universal Music Group in 1998, later releasing Karma (2001), Dudu (2003), his first English-language album Come Closer (2006), Metamorfoz (2007), Adımı Kalbine Yaz (2010) — Turkey's best-selling album that year — and the classical Turkish-themed Ahde Vefa (2016).

Nicknamed "Megastar" and "Prince of the Bosphorus" in the press, Tarkan has had his impact on Turkey compared by the Washington Post to that of Elvis Presley in the United States, while Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun called him one of the finest live performers he had ever seen. His records have sold more than 15 million copies worldwide, and he has collected numerous Kral Müzik Ödülü and Golden Butterfly awards plus a World Music Award. He became a father in 2018; his daughter Liya turned eight in the summer of 2026, around the same time Tarkan continued performing live, including a concert in Germany.