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After the Tevetoğlu family relocated to Turkey, Tarkan began to study music in Karamürsel, at the Üsküdar Musiki Cemiyeti school.His road to fame began when his family moved to İstanbul in 1988, and he began to prepare for University entrance exams in 1990. He had a difficult time in İstanbul with little money, and worked in low-paying jobs including a stint as a wedding singer.
Making the decision to return to Germany, it was while he was preparing
for the move back that he met Mehmet Söğütoğlu, the chairman of record
company İstanbul Plak. Produced by Söğütoğlu the release of his debut
album Yine Sensiz (Without You Again) in December 1992 sold 750
thousand copies.Collaborating with prominent Turkish producer and
songwriter Sezen Aksu, his highly anticipated second album Aacayipsin
(Oh - You're Something Else) sold more than two million copies in
Turkey and 750 thousand copies in Europe.The European sales were a
first-time feat for a Turkish performer.
Tarkan subsequently moved to New York in 1994 to complete his education
at a college in the U.S.. While Tarkan spent time in the USA learning
English, he met the Turkish founder of Atlantic Records, Ertegün, who
had first seen him perform in İstanbul. Tarkan has described Ertegün as
his mentor in music and business.Before his death, Ertegün had been
preparing Tarkan for an American career,but Tarkan re-started his
English debut album several times.
1997-2000: Universal Kisses
In July 1997, the hit song "Şımarık" was released in Turkey from the
album Ölürüm Sana (I'd Die For You). This album took a total of three
years to complete. Tarkan collaborated once more with Aksu and music
engineer Ozan Çolakoğlu for the album. He thanked them for this during
his speech, which he delivered after winning his first music industry
award for his song "Şımarık". In Turkey, Ölürüm Sana sold 4.5 million
copies alone.It was an indication of things to come.
Signed up by the French branch of recording label PolyGram (now
Universal Music), when the album's single "Şımarık" was released in
1999 in Europe, it reached number three in places like Switzerland,the
Netherlands, France, and Germany, and it reached number one in Belgium.
He was awarded with his gold disc at the Cannes Midem Awards. Becoming
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."
Following that he released a compilation 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, "Şıkıdım" and "Bu Gece" ("Tonight").
Tarkan traveled to Europe and Latin America to promote his music.
Including Ukraine, Morocco, Tunisia and Russia, in Europe he gave a
total of eighteen concerts in seventeen cities. In Latin America this
album provided Tarkan with a strong fan base, especially in Mexico
where Universal Music requested a promotional tour to the region at the
end of 1999.
However, this visit had to be postponed until the second week of March
2000, because Tarkan was called up for military service, which he had
suspended for a certain length of time while his studies continued in
New York. In 2000, the self-titled album was released in the USA with a
Universal Latino ticket. Sales went platinum in Latin America.
2001-2006: Global Moves
In March 2001, Tarkan joined a global brand and became the first Pepsi
spokesperson in Turkey before the release of his album Karma and two
first-ever singles in his domestic market in the same year, "Kuzu Kuzu"
("Like A Lamb") and "Hüp" ("Whoop"). Although Karma was not given a
worldwide release, it was distributed in large shipments to Russia
where he had become the largest-selling non-Russian pop star, with a
million copies shipped to other areas of Europe, like Denmark.His
EP/hybrid album Dudu (Woman) was released in the summer of 2003 under
his own label HITT Music for the first time. It was the first album of
its kind to sell over a million copies in Turkey, while the title track
won Tarkan a song of the year award from Russia.Due to his successful
creative partnership with Aksu ending over the ownership of "Şımarık",
both in Karma and Dudu he worked with singer-songwriter Nazan Öncel,
whose own Yan Yana Fotoğraf Çektirelim album was published under the
HITT Productions label.
After becoming the face of Pepsi in Turkey, Tarkan was the official
mascot of the Turkish national football team for the 2002 World Cup. He
recorded the football song "Bir Oluruz Yolunda" ("United For You"),
which became an anthem for the fans.As a New Year's gift for admirers,
he released his own perfume range entitled "Tarkan" at the start of
2004.
In October 2005, Tarkan released his long awaited English language
debut single "Bounce" in Turkey. His debut English language album Come
Closer was released in parts of Europe on April 7, 2006, under a
Universal Music label. "Bounce" was released in Germany a few days
after the release of Come Closer. The German version of the single
included an oriental remix as well as a hip-hop remix featuring Spanish
rapper Adassa. A second single "Start the Fire" was released in August,
which included a remix by Turkish DJ Mousse T. A music video was also
released prior to the single's release to the Mousse T. version of the
song.
2007: Current projects
Tarkan announced at the beginning of 2007 that he is planning to
re-release his Come Closer album for the USA market. The information
was confirmed by Pete "Boxta" Martin, who did the remix of the album,
adding that there will be two new songs featured on the US version.
Tarkan confirmed that he was back in collaboration with Aksu for the
release of a new Turkish pop music album this year.He also expressed
admiration for the charitable works of such celebrities as Angelina
Jolie and Bono from U2, and revealed his own concerns over climate
change and the urgency for a global focus on the issue.
International popularity
In recent years, Tarkan has gained international recognition beyond his
parents' native Turkey. He is popular in Eastern European countries
like Romania and Bulgaria, and in Russia where he has performed
extensively.He gave his first Middle Eastern concert in Dubai in
2006.He is also known in Israel, Greece, the UK and the USA, mainly
among the Turkish diaspora. His song "Şımarık" has been sampled by
various artists in these countries. The lucrative film industry in
India has also poached various Tarkan hits for Bollywood films,
including "Şikidim", "Kuzu Kuzu" and "Dudu".
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