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Born on 9 June 1952 in the eastern province of Malatya, prominent Turkish singer, actor, and trans icon Bülent Ersoy moved to Istanbul in 1960 and grew up around the classical Turkish music of her grandparents, which would provide the grounding for her future career. She cut her teeth playing classical Turkish music and took private music lessons before going on to study at the Istanbul Municipal Conservatory. The 1970s were spent forging her music career with a string of releases that included her debut 1971 record in 1971, a two-track single comprising “Lüzum Kalmadı” and “Neye Yarar Gelişin?” Her first album of classical Turkish songs, Ah Tut-i Mucize Guyem, arrived in 1973 and ensured her status at the top table of well-respected Turkish pop legends. After undergoing gender reassignment surgery in London in 1981, she was forced to leave Turkey due to a law enacted by the military junta and the repressive policies of the country's new President Ahmet Kenan Evren. As a transgender artist, she was not permitted to perform on stage in Turkey and lived in Germany and Australia until 1988 after which Ahmet Kenan Evren was replaced by the more moderate President Turgual Özal. She became a vocal advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights in Turkey and as one of the country's first-ever trans artists, enjoyed great success during the 1990s, amassing a stash of albums that run the gamut from arabesque and Turkish classical. She also broke out onto an international stage to play Paris' Olympia in 1997. During this time, she also appeared in numerous films and on television, presenting her own Bülent Ersoy Show from 1995–1996 and in 2013–2014. She released the Alaturka album in 2018 with a slew of other LPs following in subsequent years, including Veda and Suskun Dünya in 2023. 2024 saw the release of the Proteryum Prod. dance remix of "Yaranamadım."
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