Tanju Okan

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Tanju Okan
Born August 27, 1938
İzmir, Turkey
Origin Turkey
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
İzmir, Turkey
Genres Anatolian rock, türkü
Occupation(s) Singer, musician, actor

Tanju Okan (August 27, 1938 - May 23, 1996) was a Turkish singer.

Life

He was born in İzmir on 27 August 1938. He received his primary and secondary education in Manisa and Balıkesir. Afterwards, he went to Italy for vocal training. In 1961, he began singing professionally in Ankara and then in İstanbul. He married twice and was the father of a son. During the 1990s, he retired and began living in Urla, a small seaside town of the İzmir Province. He died from cirrhosis on May 23, 1996.

Career

In the early 1960s, he was a solo singer in the Müfit Kiper orchestra. In 1964, he represented Turkey in the Balkan Music Festival, together with Tülay German and Erol Büyükburç. In the same year, he produced his first 45 rpm record. He had a powerful sound and could easily sing three styles of music popular in the 1960s in Turkey: new compositions, covers of Western music and arranged Turkish folklore music (türkü). In the 1970s, he sang two songs which became instant hits; In 1972 Öyle sarhoş olsam ki ("I wish I was so drunk") and in 1974 Kadınım ("My Woman").[1] In 1973, he featured on the multi-singer melody Arkadaş Dur Bekle (Turkish version of Auntie) together with Modern Folk Üçlüsü and Nilüfer.

He has also starred in eleven movies.[2]

Album Discography

Year Name
1975 Bütün Şarkılarım
1980 Yorgunum
1991 Kadınım-Kime ne
1992 Yıllar sonra kırlangıç
1995 Tanju Okan 95
1999 Bir zamanlar-Best of Tanju Okan
2001 Bir zamanlar-Best of Tanju Okan (2)
2006 Bak bir varmış, bir yokmuş
 ? Hasret

He also contributed to several multi singer albums.[3]

References

  1. Biography page (Turkish)
  2. Internet movie data base
  3. Discography by Ercan Demirel