Tanju Okan (27 August 1938 – 23 May 1996) was a
Turkish singer.
Life
Okan was born in
İzmir on 27 August 1938. He received his primary and secondary education in
Manisa and
Balıkesir.[1] Afterwards, he went to Italy for vocal training. In 1961, he began singing professionally in
Ankara and then in
Istanbul. 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 23 May 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.[2] 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").[3] In 1973, he featured on the multi-singer melody Arkadaş Dur Bekle (Turkish version of
Auntie) together with
Modern Folk Üçlüsü and
Nilüfer.
He also starred in eleven movies.
Discography
Albums
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
He also contributed to several multi singer albums.[4]