Ajda Pekkan
Template:Infobox musical artist 2 Ayşe Ajda Pekkan (born 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 and is the most commercially successful Turkish music artist. She is nicknamed "Superstar".
Early life
Ajda was born to Rıdvan Pekkan, an officer in the Turkish navy , and Nevin Dobruca. She spent her childhood at the Gölcük naval base. Ajda graduated from the girl’s high school Çamlıca Kız Lisesi in Istanbul.
Career
With the help of her sister, Semiramis, she started singing at the popular Istanbul nightclub Çatı (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 Ebcioğlu, brought her great success in 1965. Contrary to other artists, she transited from film to music, and in 1968, her record İki Yabancı (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.
“Superstar 1987” was 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), Şehrazat, 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 Şereftuğ, 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 Şöhret Sandalı (Boat of Fame). After several years of financial setbacks, it was released in 2006.
In the summer 2003, she released her single Sen İste (Just Want It), written by her friend Şehrazat, the popular songwriter.
In 2006, Ajda released her latest album Cool Kadın (Cool Woman). This produced the number one dance hit single Vitrin.
Discography
Albums
- Ajda Pekkan (1968)
- Fecri Ebcioglu Sunar (1969)
- Ajda Pekkan Vol III (1972)
- Ajda (1975)
- La Fete A L’Olympia (1976)
- Süperstar (1977)
- Pour Lui (1978)
- Süperstar II (1979)
- Sen Mutlu Ol (1981)
- Sevdim Seni (1982)
- Süperstar III (1983)
- Ajda Pekkan - Beş Yıl Önce On Yıl Sonra (1984)
- Süperstar IV (1987)
- Ajda 1990 (1990)
- Seni Seçtim (1991)
- Ajda ’93 (1993)
- Ajda Pekkan (1996)
- The Best of Ajda (1998)
- Diva (2000)
- Cool Kadin (2006)
Singles
- Abidik Gubidik Twist (1964)
- Her Yerde Kar Var (1965)
- Moda Yolunda (1966)
- Seviyorum (1966)
- İki Yabancı (1967)
- Dönmem Sana (1967)
- Oyalama Beni (1967)
- Aşk Oyunu (1967)
- Boşvermiştim Dünyaya (1967)
- Dünya Dönüyor (1968)
- Kimdir Bu Sevgili (1968)
- Özleyiş (1968)
- Boş Sokak (1968)
- Ne Tadı Var Bu Dünyanın (1969)
- İki Yüzlü Aşk (1969)
- Durdurun şu Zamanı (1969)
- Ben Bir Köylü Kızıyım (1969)
- Son Arzu (1969)
- Ay Dogarken (1969)
- Sensiz Yıllarda (1970)
- Yagmur (1970)
- Gençlik Yılları (1971)
- Yalnızlıktan Bezdim (1971)
- Sen Bir Yana Dünya Bir Yana (1971)
- Olanlar Oldu Bana (1972)
- Dert Bende (1972)
- Kaderimin Oyunu (1973)
- Tanrı Misafiri (1973)
- Seninleyim (1973)
- Nasılsın İyi misin (1974)
- Sana Neler Edecegim (1974)
- Hoşgör Sen (1975)
- Al Beni (1975)
- Ne Varsa Bende Var (1976)
- Je T'apprendrai L'amour (1976)
- Gözünaydın (1976)
- Viens Dans Ma Vie (1977)
- Aglama Yarim (1977)
- A Mes Amours (1977)
- Ya Sonra (1978)
- Pet'r Oil / Loving On Petrol (1980)
- Diva (2000)
- Sen İste (2003)
- Vitrin (2006)