Tanju Okan

Tanju Okan — Biography

Tanju Okan grew up steeped in music -- his father taught it, his mother played violin well -- and he was singing from primary school onward, continuing through high school and his military service. His professional career opened in Ankara in 1961 before he relocated to Istanbul soon after; in 1964, representing Turkey alongside Tülay German and Erol Büyükburç, he won a Balkan music festival in Yugoslavia, and the song he performed there, "Kundurama Kum Doldu," became his first record in 1965.

French-language recordings made with Patricia Carli failed to launch him abroad, but singles such as "Hasret" (1970) and "Kadınım" (1974) made him hugely popular at home. His brief first marriage, to Nur Erbay in 1967, produced a son, Tansu; his second, to Zerrin Erdoğan -- the inspiration for "Kadınım" -- lasted fourteen months. In 1989 he ran for mayor of Urla on the ANAP ticket, finishing second.

Diagnosed with cirrhosis in the mid-1990s and having a leg amputated in December 1995, Okan gave his last performance on 26 January 1996; that April, the Ministry of Culture and POPSAV held a benefit night in his honor at which Cem Karaca, Barış Manço and Sezen Aksu performed. He died on 23 May 1996 and, per his wishes, was buried in Urla, which today has a park and statue bearing his name; his son Tansu accepted the posthumous Yekta Okur award on his behalf in 1997.