Ajda Pekkan was born on February 12, 1946, in Istanbul. She is a Turkish pop singer and actress. Through a career spanning five decades thus far, Pekkan has released more than 20 albums and, with Sezen Aksu, is the most commercially successful female Turkish music artist with the sales of over 30 million copies worldwide. She is nicknamed the "Superstar" of Turkish pop music. Although famed for her music, Pekkan started her career as an actress with appearances in almost 50 films. During her music career, Pekkan has recorded songs in nine languages. Apart from Turkish, she is also fluent in English andFrench.
With the help of her sister, Semiramis, she began singing at the popular Istanbul nightclub Çatı (Roof) in 1962. The following year, Pekkan won a Cover Star contest sponsored by the Turkish music magazine Ses ("Voice") and was launched on a professional career.
The success of her songs resulted in a series of Turkish-language concerts with Enrico Macias at the Paris Olympia in 1976. In acknowledgement of her nickname, Pekkan released an album called Superstar in 1977. The same year, she participated in the Yamaha Music Festival in Tokyo to great success. She released German and French records in the early 1970s, and her Pour Lui, became very successful in France. At this pinnacle, she released her second album Süperstar II in 1979.
