Emel Sayın

Emel Sayın — Biography

Emel Sayın, the eldest of four daughters in a family that emigrated to Turkey in 1926, was born on 20 November 1945 in the Şarkışla district of Sivas. She began music lessons at 13 with Arif Sami Toker and later studied under Münir Nurettin Selçuk, was named "Voice Queen" in a singing contest, and trained at the Istanbul University State Conservatory. She first performed on stage in Ankara at 17, joined Turkish state radio as a soloist in 1963 for seven years, then moved to Istanbul to perform at the Lalezar music hall.

A 1972 album of hers sold close to 100,000 copies, a record at the time. During the Yeşilçam era she took lead roles in films including Mavi Boncuk, Acı Hatıralar, Hasret and Rüzgâr, appeared in the series Aşkım Aşkım in 2001, and returned to film with Beyaz Melek in 2007. She was named a State Artist in 1998 and later won Golden Butterfly awards and a Lifetime Achievement award at the Antalya Film Festival.

She married three times, to İsmet Kasapoğlu, Selçuk Aslan and David Younnes, and had a four-year relationship in the 1970s with her Mavi Boncuk co-star Tarık Akan. In summer 2026 she postponed concerts for months of treatment for an illness, sharing updates on her recovery with fans.