Ferdi Tayfur

Ferdi Tayfur — Biography

Born Ferdi Tayfur Turanbayburt, the singer came into the world on 15 November 1945 in Adana's Taşçı district. Before finding fame he worked as a farmhand, waiter and coffee-house attendant, and played the bağlama; his recording career opened with a first single cut in 1967, and he stepped onto the big screen in 1976 opposite Temel Gürsu in the film Çeşme. Nicknamed "Ferdi Baba" and hailed as the "King of Arabesque," he won nine Golden Record awards, often built his films around songs he had written himself, and was honoured with the State Artist title. He released more than thirty albums and appeared in over thirty films, founded the record label Ferdifon (formerly Odebs) in 1982, and moved into the construction business in 2009. He died on 2 January 2025 in an Antalya hospital from organ failure. In September 2025, on the initiative of Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahçeli, an art park and museum bearing his name opened in the Sarıçam district of Adana.