Ajda Pekkan (born on February 12, 1946 in Istanbul) is a very popular Turkish pop music singer and occasional actress. Through an illustrious career spanning five decades thusfar, Ajda has released over 20 albums, represented Turkey at the Eurovision song contest and had a profound impact on popular culture. She is nicknamed "Superstar".
She spent her childhood at the Gölcük naval base. Ajda graduated from the all girls high school of Çamlica Kiz Lisesi in Istanbul.
With the help of her sister, Semiramis, she started singing at the popular Istanbul nightclub "Çati"(Roof) in 1962. The next year, Ajda won the Cover Star contest of the Turkish music magazine "Ses"(Sound) and thus began her professional career.
From 1963 to 1967, she played in 47 films with 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 Ebcioglu, brought her great success in 1965. Contrary to other artists, she transited from film to music, and in 1968, her record "Iki Yabanci"(Two Strangers) became a top seller. Ajda’s continuing success resulted in invitations to international festivals such as to the 1968 and 1969 "Apollonia Music Festival" in Athens, Greece and to 1969 "Mediterranean Songs Festival" in Barcelona, Spain.
The success of her songs resulted in a series of Turkish-language concerts with Enrico Macias at the "Paris Olympia hall" in 1976. In acknowledgement of her nickname, Ajda released an album named "Superstar" in 1977. The same year, she participated in the "Yamaha Music Festival" in Tokyo, Japan to great success. In addition to her German and French records released in Europe in the early 1970s, she recorded "Pour Lui", which became very successful in France. At the pinnacle of her career, she released her second album "Superstar 2" in 1979.
On April 19, 1980, Ajda represented Turkey with the entry Petrol at the Eurovision Song Contest in Den Haag, the Netherlands. Deeply disappointed with her low score, Ajda decided to temporarily move 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 new 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 "Superstar ‘83", which also became an instant hit. Ajda entered the '80s with another successful album on her already extensive repertoire.
“Superstar 1987” was also a huge success and, coincidentally, is her only album that is not available on CD.
In late 1989, she began working on her new album with famous Turkish musicians, such as Fuat Güner from MFÖ (the band which represented Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1985 and 1988), Sehrazat, and Metin Özülkü. The album, simply titled "Ajda 1990" was a big 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 the album "Ajda ‘93". She recorded this album in Switzerland, Turkey and USA. In this album, she worked with Atilla Sereftug, a famous Turkish musician who had written the Eurovision ’88-winning song Ne Partez Sans Moi (Don’t Leave Without Me) for Céline Dion.
After many successful albums she decided to release a best of album, and in 1998, she released "The Best of Ajda".
In 2001, she started performing in an Istanbul club "Catwalk" and her performances were all sold out, with the help of the eager audience, who were looking forward to see "the superstar" after a three year hiatus. The performances were so successful that Ajda postponed the deadline of the show by about six months.
In 2002, she also started making a movie called Söhret Sandali (Boat of Fame). After several years of financial setbacks, it was released in 2006.
In the summer 2003, she released her single Sen Iste (Just Want It), written by her friend Sehrazat, the popular songwriter.
In 2006, Ajda released her latest album Cool Kadin (Cool Woman). This album produced the number one dance hit single "Vitrin" and a funky disco beat called "Amazon".
In the summer 2007 she started a completely sold out concert series called "Ajda, take us to the disco" performing her songs in disco rythms with Turkey's most famous DJs live on stage.
Note: Ajda released total of 20 albums and 56 singles. Not all is mentioned in this shortened version of her biography.
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