Ferdi Tayfur

Ferdi Tayfur (born 1945) is a Turkish arabesque singer, actor and composer. In recent years, he has also become popular in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Trinidad and Tobago, Syria and Iran. He was born in Hürriyet neighborhood of Adana, Turkey and he has led a successful career in arabesque music. Being successful in his arabesque career he is announced as the king of arabesque, a music type very popular in today's Turkey and the middle east. His father, Cumali, who was a big fan of a famous theater and dubbing actor "Ferdi Tayfur" named his youngest son after him. After his father was killed, he was not able to continue his education because he had to work in the cotton fields of Çukurova. Ferdi Tayfur went to Istanbul when he was 17 with dreams of becoming a famous singer. He was not able to succeed his dreams, and he returned back to Adana after a short stay in Istanbul. He came back to Istanbul in the early 1970s and his constant attempts to become a singer finally starts to pay off. He has over 100 music albums and over 30 films in his credit and he received the prestigious Golden Album Award for 9 times. In 2000, he was almost losing one of his toes due to diabetes. He has millions of fans both in Turkey and in Europe (particularly among Turks in Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands)