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Mustafa Sandal, commonly known as Musti, is a famous Turkish pop singer. He is fluent in English, Turkish, Italian and French. He emerged in the early 1990s with the revival of Turkish pop music and is one of the most successful pop singers in Turkey. Musti is famous in Europe for his songs "Moonlight" and "İsyankar" in countries such as Germany, Switzerland , and Austria.
Early life
Mustafa Sandal was born on January 11, 1970 in İstanbul. When he
started school, his classmates and teachers quickly realized his
talents in music. When Musti heard a song, he was immediately able to
pick out the different instruments and their melodies throughout the
music. He finished high school at Geneva, Switzerland. He then
transferred to New Hampshire College in the United States. After
graduating, he believed that his own dreams were more important and
went back to İstanbul. During this time, Musti became involved in
writing music with many songwriters. In a short time, he began to write
his own music and wrote songs for famous Turkish singers Zerrin Özer,
Hakan Peker, Yonca Evcimik and Aysegul Aldinc.
Career
Mustafa Sandal released his debut album Suç Bende in 1994. It sold 1.7
million copies and became the greatest selling album of the year with a
landslide victory. During this time, Musti gave 140 concerts throughout
Turkey as well as thirty concerts in Europe. Musti was interested in
working with all areas of music; he wanted to be not only a singer, but
also a songwriter and producer. In 1995, Musti helped write songs and
produce Turkish pop singer Sibel Alaş's album "Adam" ("Man"). The album
was successful and sold 400,000 copies. In 1996, Musti moved to London
to isolate himself from fans while preparing his next album. Later that
year, he released his second album Gölgede Aynı and it sold 2.6 million
copies. After the outstanding popularity of this album, he performed
140 concerts throughout Turkey. The third music video of the album for
the song "Bir Anda" used tie-clip techniques which were a first for
Turkish fans. Musti also produced Turkish pop singer İzel's album
"Emanet" ("Possession") later that year. Musti's third album Detay was
the first album released from his newly established record label YADA
Productions. In 2000, after the success of Tarkan, Musti signed a
contract with Sony Music France and released a compilation album titled
Araba. Later that year, Musti released his fourth album Akışına Bırak
but had disappointing sales. However, the duet with Natalia for the
song "Hatırla Beni," originally a Greek/Egyptian song called "ELEOS"
sung by Angela Dimitriou and Amr Diab became very successful and a
concert tour of Turkey followed.
In 2001, Prestij Müzik, the parent company of Musti's YADA Productions,
was bankrupted and Musti signed into Erol Köse Productions. In 2002,
Musti released his fifth studio album Kop which contained the 2002 hit
"Pazara Kadar" ("Until Sunday"/"Until the Market") as well as releasing
his first promotional single for the song Kopmam Lazım with Turkish
phone service Telsim. In 2003, Musti released his first Maxi Single
(EP/Hybrid Album) titled Maxi Sandal 2003 / Moonlight which included a
Turkish/Greek duet of the Greek folk song "Anaveis Foties" as well as
releasing his first European single Aya Benzer 2003. Musti also wanted
to release English songs in his next album Seven but due to conflicts
with producer Erol Köse he released the album under a Universal label.
In 2004, Musti released his second European single Araba 2004 along
with a second version of Seven titled Seven New Version with little
success.
Later in 2004, Musti released his second Maxi Single titled İste
("Want") which contained his 2004 hit İsyankar ("Rebellious"). The song
was believed by some to be a remake of a song by Punjabi MC. Musti
later performed the song with Punjabi MC in 2005. On August 11th, 2005,
Musti released his third single İsyankar in Europe and later won a Gold
Record for high sales in Germany. The song reached the top 20 of
several European countries peaking at number four in Switzerland.Later
that year, Musti later released a third version of the Seven album
titled Seven Reloaded. After disappointing sales, Musti announced that
he was taking a career break. During this time, Musti worked on three
commercials for Muhabbet Kart ("Chat Card"), a new promotion provided
by Türkcell. Musti also started giving concerts throughout Turkey.
During one concert, he said "Bu yaz çok sessiz geçti. Yine iş bize
duştu" ("This summer has been too quiet. It is again my responsibility
to make the hits"). Suddenly, Musti started singing his Yamalı Tövbeler
("Patched Repentances") song. Unfortunately, Yamalı Tövbeler sold
poorly and caused more tension between Musti and Erol Köse. Musti's
contract was transferred to Seyhan Müzik. In 2006, Musti started to
appear on Dogus Otomobil's safe driving commercials. It was also
announced on his official website that his 1996 hit "Araba" would be
translated and put into Shakira's next album.
Musti originally announced that his new album would be released in
December, 2006. In 2007, the new Musti FM radio on his official website
confirmed that his album had been delayed to April 23rd, 2007, May
19th, and later to its official release date of June 13th, 2007. In
May, Musti invited Emina Jahovic to İstanbul and showed her three
tracks he had written for her in his new album. By the time she was
listening to the third song she was in tears. To promote his album,
Musti starred in three commercials for Muhabbet Kart with his
grandfather, famous percussionist Hüseyin İleri Musti also explained in
an interviewthat his grandfather raised him during his childhood and
gave him motivation and interest towards music. In an interview with
Turkish entertainment show Canlı Canlı, Musti admitted that he is again
in a relationship with Emina Jahovic. Later in June, Seyhan Müzik
announced that the Devamı Var album sold 200,000 copies in its first
week and has reached number one in all music store listings in western
areas of Turkey.
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