Ajda Pekkan

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Ajda Pekkan
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Ayşe Ajda Pekkan
Born = Birth date and age|1946|2|11|mf=y
Origin = İstanbul, Turkey
Genre = Pop.
Occupation = Singer-songwriter, actress
Years_active = 1962–present
Instrument = Vocals
URL = [http://www.ajdapekkan.com Official Website]

Ayşe Ajda Pekkan (born February 12, 1946 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a Turkish pop music singer and actress. Through an illustrious career spanning five decades thus far, Ajda has released more than 20 albums and with Sezen Aksu, is the most commercially successful female Turkish music artist with the sales of over 30 million copies worldwide. She is nicknamed the "Superstar" of Turkish pop music. Although is famed for her music, Ajda started her career as an actress with appearances in almost 50 films. During her music career, Ajda has recorded songs in 9 languages. Apart from Turkish, she is also fluent in English and French. She also knows Azeri and Italian.

Early life

Ajda was born to Rıdvan Pekkan, an officer in the Turkish Navy, and Nevin Dobruca, a housewife. She spent her childhood at the Gölcük naval base. Ajda graduated from "Çamlıca Kız Lisesi", a girls high school in Istanbul.

Career

With the help of her sister, Semiramis, she began singing at the popular Istanbul nightclub "Çatı" (Roof) in 1962. The next year, Ajda won a "Cover Star" contest sponsored by the Turkish music magazine "Ses" (English: "Voice") and was launched on a professional career.

Between 1963 and 1967, the statuesque actress appeared in 47 films opposite popular Turkish actors, mostly in singer roles. Ajda’s first recording, "Her Yerde Kar Var", an arrangement of Salvatore Adamo's "Tombe la Neige" by Fecri Ebcioğlu, brought her great success in 1965. In contrast to many of her contemporaries, she transited from film to music and in 1968 her record, "İki Yabancı" ("Two Strangers"), became a top seller. Ajda’s continuing success resulted in invitations to international festivals including the Apollonia Music Festival in Athens (1968 and 1969) and the Mediterranean Song Festival in Barcelona (1969).

The success of her songs resulted in a series of Turkish-language concerts with Enrico Macias at the Paris Olympia in 1976. In acknowledgement of her nickname, Ajda released an album called "Superstar" in 1977. The same year, she participated in the Yamaha Music Festival in Tokyo to great success. She released German and French records in the early 1970s, and her "Pour Lui", became very successful in France. At this pinnacle, she released her second album "Süperstar II" in 1979.

On April 19, 1980, Ajda represented Turkey with the entry "Pet'r Oil" at the Eurovision Song Contest in Den Haag, the Netherlands. She then decided to take a break and temporarily moved to the USA. After returning to Turkey, she recorded two failed albums, "Sen Mutlu Ol" ("Just Be Happy") and "Sevdim Seni" ("I Loved You") in the then current trend of Turkish music, but returned to her original type of Western pop and gave concerts in 1983 with enormous success. That same year, she released "Süperstar III" which she followed with "Süperstar IV" (1987). The album was a huge success; coincidentally, it is her only album that is not available on CD.

In late 1989, she began working on her a album with famous Turkish musicians including Fuat Güner from MFÖ (the band which represented Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1985 and 1988), Şehrazat, and Metin Özülkü. The album, simply titled "Ajda 1990" signalled a new breakthrough for Ajda, with sales of over a million. With the success of this official debut album (and also the first on CD) , she immediately began working on her next album.

In 1991, she released "Seni Seçtim" ("I Picked You"), to even greater success. Hits like "Sevgide Seni Seçtim" ("I Picked You For Love"), "Eline Gözüne Dizine Dursun" ("That’s Way Much Enough of You"), "Vazgeçme" ("Don’t Give Up"), she topped all the charts in Turkey.

In 1993, she released "Ajda ‘93" which she recorded this album in Switzerland, Turkey and United States. She worked with Atilla Şereftuğ on this album, a famous Turkish musician who had written the Eurovision ’88-winning song "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi" ("Don’t Leave Without Me") for Celine Dion.

After many successful albums she decided to release a best of album, and in September 1998, she released "The Best of Ajda". Two years later, in 2000, Ajda released another studio album, simply called "Diva" and enjoyed sales of over two million copies.

In 2001, she started performing in an Istanbul club "Catwalk" and her performances were all sold out, with the help of an eager audience looking forward to see "the superstar" after a three year hiatus. The performances were so successful that Ajda postponed closing the show by about six months.

In 2002, she also began making a movie called "Şöhret Sandalı" ("Boat of Fame"). After several years of financial setbacks, it was released in 2006.

In the summer 2003, she released her single "Sen İste" ("Just Want It"), written by her friend Şehrazat, the popular songwriter. After six years later,in August 2006, Ajda released her latest album "Cool Kadın" ("Cool Woman"). This album produced the number one dance hit single "Vitrin" and a funky disco beat called "Amazon". During the first six months over 800.000 copies of "Cool Kadın" was sold just in Turkey.

In the summer 2007 she began a completely sold out concert series called "Ajda goes Disco" performing her songs in disco rhythms with Turkey's most famous DJs live on stage. She is reportedly working in the studio, recording her next album which is likely to be released in 2008.Fact|date=February 2008

In the summer of 2008, she began touring Turkey and she performed two new songs "Flu Gibi" and "Gerisi Hikaye", from her new album "Aynen Oyle", which was released in Turkey, German and USA on July 23rd, 2008.

Discography

Albums

* Ajda Pekkan (1968)
* Fecri Ebcioglu Sunar (1969)
* Ajda Pekkan Vol III (1972)
* Ajda (1975)
* La Fete A L’Olympia (1976)
*"Süperstar" (1977)
*"Pour Lui" (1978)
*"Süperstar II" (1979)
*"Sen Mutlu Ol" (1981)
*"Sevdim Seni" (1982)
*"Süperstar III" (1983)
*"Ajda Pekkan - Beş Yıl Önce On Yıl Sonra" (1984)
*"Süperstar IV" (1987)
*"Ajda 1990" (1990)
*"Seni Seçtim" (1991)
*"Ajda ’93" (1993)
*"Ajda Pekkan" (1996)
*"The Best of Ajda" (1998)
*"Diva" (2000)
*"Cool Kadin" (2006)
*"Aynen Oyle" (2008)

Singles

*"Abidik Gubidik Twist" (1964)
*"Her Yerde Kar Var" (1965)
*"Moda Yolunda" (1966)
*"Seviyorum" (1966)
*"İki Yabancı" (1967)
*"Dönmem Sana" (1967)
*"Oyalama Beni" (1967)
*"Aşk Oyunu" (1967)
*"Boşvermiştim Dünyaya" (1967)
*"Dünya Dönüyor" (1968)
*"Kimdir Bu Sevgili" (1968)
*"Özleyiş" (1968)
*"Boş Sokak" (1968)
*"Ne Tadı Var Bu Dünyanın" (1969)
*"İki Yüzlü Aşk" (1969)
*"Durdurun şu Zamanı" (1969)
*"Ben Bir Köylü Kızıyım" (1969)
*"Son Arzu" (1969)
*"Ay Dogarken" (1969)
*"Sensiz Yıllarda" (1970)
*"Yagmur" (1970)
*"Gençlik Yılları" (1971)
*"Yalnızlıktan Bezdim" (1971)
*"Sen Bir Yana Dünya Bir Yana" (1971)
*"Olanlar Oldu Bana" (1972)
*"Dert Bende" (1972)
*"Kaderimin Oyunu" (1973)
*"Tanrı Misafiri" (1973)
*"Seninleyim" (1973)
*"Nasılsın İyi misin" (1974)
*"Sana Neler Edecegim" (1974)
*"Hoşgör Sen" (1975)
*"Al Beni" (1975)
*"Ne Varsa Bende Var" (1976)
*"Je T'apprendrai L'amour" (1976)
*"Gözünaydın" (1976)
*"Viens Dans Ma Vie" (1977)
*"Aglama Yarim" (1977)
*"A Mes Amours" (1977)
*"Ya Sonra" (1978)
*"Pet'r Oil / Loving On Petrol" (1980)
*"Diva" (2000)
*"Sen İste" (2003)
*"Cool Kadin" (2006)
*"Vitrin" (2006)
*"Amazon" (2007)
*"Aynen Öyle" (2008)

External links

* [http://www.ajdapekkan.com Official website]
* [http://groups.google.com/group/ajdapekkan/about Official fanclub]

See also

*Sezen Aksu
*List of Turkish pop music performers and genres
*Turkish music
*Turkish pop music