Zeki Müren

He was the first singer to receive a gold certification in Turkey and throughout his career recorded and released hundreds of songs on cassettes and phonograph records.

Müren was born in the Hisar district of Bursa, at the wooden house number 30 on Ortapazar Road as the only child of Kaya and Hayriye Müren. His father was a timber merchant. Müren went to the Bursa Osmangazi School (later Tophane School and Alkıncı School). When he was at school, his musical ability was discovered by his teachers and he started to have a prominent role at school musicals. His first ever role was the character of a shepherd in one of these musicals. He finished his secondary school in Bursa and then asked his father to let him go to Istanbul. There he attended the Istanbul Boğaziçi High School. He finished the school and ended up as the number-one student. After passing his exams, he was enrolled at the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts (now Mimar Sinan University) where he studied decorative arts from 1950 to 1953.

In 1950, while he was a university student, he took part at TRT Istanbul Radio's music competition and ranked number-one out of 186 contestants. On 1 January 1951, he had his first live performance on Istanbul Radio, which was praised by critics. During this performance, he was accompanied by musicians Hakkı Derman, Serif İçli, Şükrü Tunar, Refik Fersan and Necdet Gezen. Hamiyet Yüceses subsequently called the program and congratulated him on his performance. In those years, TRT Ankara Radio was the most listened radio in Anatolia, and Istanbul Radio could not be heard clearly from all parts of Anatolia. At the same week, the clarinetist Şükrü Tunar, took Müren to his own recording studio in Yeşilköy and he recorded his song "Muhabbet Kuşu" on phonograph record. Thanks to this record, Müren became known all over Anatolia. After the success of his first live performance and his first record, Müren began to perform different songs on Turkish radios. His radio programs went on air for 15 years, most of which included live performances. Müren subsequently focused on giving concerts and recording new songs. He had his first live concert on 26 May 1955. He would usually wear his self-designed clothes on stage. He brought various innovations such as dressing uniforms and using T podium. Together with Behiye Aksoy, he performed at Maksim Casino for 11 years. In 1976, he became the first Turkish artist to perform at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Throughout his career, Müren recorded 600 cassettes and phonograph records. His first song recorded on a phonograph was "Bir Muhabbet Kuşu" by Şükrü Tunar. With his song "Manolyam" in 1955, Müren became the first Turkish artist to receive a gold certification. In 1991, he was chosen as a State Artist.

In 1965, he published a poetry book called Bıldırcın Yağmuru (The Quail Rain), which contains nearly 100 poems. Among the poems featured in this book are Pembe Yağmurlar (Pink Rains), Bursa Sokağı (Bursa Street), İkinci Sadık Dost, Çim Makası, Son Kavga (Last Fight), Bu Bestecikler Sana, Alınyazım, Kazancı Yokuşu and Kendimi Arıyorum. Zeki Müren started acting in the movie Beklenen Şarkı in 1953. After this movie, he acted in 18 more movies. In 1965, he played the leading role in the play Tea and Sempati, staged by Arena Theatre.

Public reception of Müren's fashion sense, and persona is controversial. In the 1950s, with his special patterns of behavior, dressing and his performance on stage, he managed to keep people constantly interested in himself. In the early years of his career, he chose to wear ordinary clothes and hair styles, but later showed a favor for feminine-styled clothes, and performed with new hair styles and make-up. In 1958 he wore a sequin jacket for the first time in his career. From the 1960s onwards, he began to adopt an androgynous identity through his clothing. In 1970, he put on a costume featuring a miniskirt as a first for him. He is one of the first representatives of cross-dressing in the public sphere in Turkey.

Zeki Müren never married. He never commented on his sexual orientation and occasionally his name appeared alongside that of women. The general opinion was that he was gay. He was known to speak Turkish very clearly. Referred to as the "Pasha of Music", in 1969, after his Aspendos concert, for the first time, he started being favored by the people of Antalya. He explained that although he was delighted because of their support, he still did not know why he was that much favored. He served as an assistant officer in Ankara Infantry School (6 months), Istanbul Harbiye Representative Office (6 months) and Çankırı (3 months) in 1957–1958.

During the last 6 years of his life, Müren was away from the scenes and the media due to heart disease and diabetes. He was retired at his house in Bodrum. He described this period as a time for "listening to oneself". On 24 September 1996, during the ceremony held for him at TRT İzmir Television in Kültürpark, he had a heart attack and died. His funeral ceremony was attended by a large number of people. His body was taken to his birth place, Bursa, and buried in Emirsultan Cemetery. He left all his assets in his will to the Turkish Education Foundation and Mehmetçik Foundation. TEV and Mehmetçik Foundation built Zeki Müren Fine Arts Anatolian High School in Bursa in 2002. In a statement on 24 September 2016, TEV Bursa branch president Mehmet Çalışkan said that the foundation had helped 2,631 students with the Zeki Müren Scholarship Fund over the last 20 years. After his death, the house in which the artist lived in Bodrum for the last years of his life was transformed into Zeki Müren Art Museum by the order of the Ministry of Culture and was opened to the public on 8 June 2000. It was visited by more than 200 thousand people between its opening on 8 June 2000 and December 2006. In the garden displays, there is a bronze statue of the singer, created by artist Tankut Oktem, and there is Zeki Müren's person car sedan (four doors) a 1976 Buick Regal in maroon color enclosed in the nearby glass viewing garage.

Albums published during his lifetime

2000: Muazzez Abacı ve Zeki Müren Düet 2002: Zeki Müren: 1955-1963 Kayıtları 2005: Selahattin Pınar Şarkıları 2005: Sadettin Kaynak Şarkıları 2006: Batmayan Güneş 2008: Baş Başa Radyo Günleri 1 2008: Baş Başa Radyo Günleri 2 2008: Baş Başa Radyo Günleri 3 2009: Lunapark Konseri 2009: Saklı Kayıtlar 1952-1984 In addition to these, there are 12 other albums attributed to Zeki Müren published during 1968–1974 by Grafson Plak.

International titles are given in parentheses.