Bülent Ersoy

Bülent Ersoy — Biography

Bülent Ersoy (born 9 June 1952) is a Turkish singer, actress and media personality, regarded as one of the most celebrated voices of Turkish classical and arabesque music. The name given to her at birth was Bülent Erkoç. Noted for her broad vocal range and commanding stage manner, she has been known for decades by the press and the public as “Diva”, while her fans affectionately call her “Ablan”.

Her involvement with music began in childhood. As a young woman she enrolled at the İstanbul Municipal Conservatory but remained there only briefly, continuing instead with private tuition under masters such as Melahat Pars and Rıdvan Aytan. At the beginning of the 1970s she started taking the stage in İstanbul's nightclubs, and her first record appeared in 1971, coupling the songs Lüzûm Kalmadı and Neye Yarar Gelişin. In 1974 she began appearing at the Maksim nightclub, among the most prestigious venues of the era. At a moment when pop and arabesque dominated the record market, her repertoire drawn from classical Ottoman-Turkish sources produced an unexpected commercial triumph and carried her to a mass audience.

Across a recording career stretching beyond four decades, she has brought out more than thirty albums. Among her best-known releases are Bir Tanrıyı Bir De Beni Unutma, Orkide, Yüz Karası, Düşkünüm Sana, Yaşamak İstiyorum, Biz Ayrılamayız, Ablan Kurban Olsun Sana, Sefam Olsun and Benim Dünya Güzellerim. Songs including Ümit Hırsızı, Geceler, Beddua, Maazallah, Biz Ayrılamayız, Sefam Olsun and Bir Tanrıyı Bir de Beni Sakın Unutma have been listened to across generations in Turkey. During the 1990s she fronted her own television programme, Bülent Show, and in later years appeared in productions such as Ben Bilmem Eşim Bilir; the habit of addressing her as “Ablan” became firmly established in this period.

Her acting work developed in parallel with her music. She made her cinema debut in the 1976 film Sıralardaki Heyecan and went on to appear in pictures such as Ölmeyen Şarkı, İşte Bizim Hikayemiz, Beddua, Yüz Karası, Acı Ekmek, Asrın Kadını and İstiyorum. She also handled the music for a number of these productions, and many of the films are remembered alongside the title songs they carried. Decades later she returned to the screen with a guest appearance in the series Çukur.

Ersoy began her career performing as a male vocalist. In 1981 she underwent surgery in London that completed her gender transition, and she has lived as a woman ever since, while retaining the name Bülent that she was given at birth. The step brought a ban on performing in Turkey, and her struggle for legal recognition lasted for years, part of which she spent abroad. When the regulations were eased towards the end of the 1980s, she returned to her country and to the stage, quickly winning an audience even larger than before. One of the most discussed artists in Turkey, Ersoy is also counted among the emblematic figures of the country's LGBT community.