Gülşen

Gülşen — Biography

Gülşen, born Gülşen Bayraktar (born 29 May 1976 in Çapa, Istanbul), is one of the most listened-to names in Turkish pop, working as a singer, songwriter, and composer. After finishing Şehremini Anadolu High School she enrolled in the conservatory at Istanbul Technical University, but left her studies unfinished after she began performing in bars at the same time. She was discovered at one such bar performance in 1995 and signed a recording contract with Raks Müzik. Her 1996 debut album, Be Adam, brought her initial recognition, though she then stepped back from music for a period to focus on her marriage.

Gülşen's breakthrough came with her fourth album, Of... Of..., in 2004, whose title track earned her both a Golden Butterfly Award and a Kral TV award. Following the Mü-Yap-certified Yurtta Aşk Cihanda Aşk (2006), her commercial success continued with Beni Durdursan mı? (2013), Turkey's best-selling album of that year, and Bangır Bangır (2015), the year's second best-seller; several of her singles from this era topped the Turkish charts for weeks. Beyond her own recordings, she has written hit songs for other artists, became the most-viewed Turkish singer on YouTube in 2015, and a year later was the first Turkish artist to have a single video surpass 200 million views; she has since collected dozens of awards, including six Golden Butterfly Awards and nine Kral Turkey Music Awards.

Married to composer Ozan Çolakoğlu, Gülşen drew widespread public attention in 2022 after a stage joke led to a highly publicized investigation.