Seyyal Taner

Seyyal Taner
Kocaeli Fair in Seyyal Taner, 2010.
Background information
Birth name	Seyyal Taner
Born	(1952-09-28) September 28, 1952
Origin	Şanlıurfa,  Turkey
Genres	Pop, Rock, Dance
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, actress
Years active	1968–present
Labels	Bir Numara (1974-1975) Yavuz Plak (1976-1986) Güneş (1991-1993) Elenor Plak (2002-2009) Majör Müzik (2012)

Seyyal Taner (born September 28, 1952, in Şanlıurfa, Turkey) is a Turkish singer and actress.^[1] Although famed for her music, Taner started her career as an actress with appearances in around 40 films. Throughout her career, many of her songs have hit, such as.

She has varied her musical style throughout her career, incorporating distinct elements of reggae, rock, new wave, folk, dance and funk into her music. Throughout her career spanning four decades so far she has faced to some challenges to do different things and not to repeat herself. To be more precise, she is a persona doing things without others approval. She is a person who brought liveliness and innovation to Turkish music and a rebel who made rock music in Alaturca Gazino, Turkish style music hall. Therefore, when somebody mentions about her, the adjectives such as weird, alien, freak, crazy,^[2] brave, rebel are used.^[2] She stood out not only her voice and songs but also her extraordinary clothes.

She is famous for leopard clothes. Besides, she is reckoned as first Turkish singer who simultaneously both sings a song and dances choreographically on stage.^[2] She tried to introduce western show to Turkey. She arranged a series of visual and musical shows. Gradually, her look and manner of dressing and her performances started influencing people. Her style became a female fashion trend along 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

Early life and career beginnings

Taner was born in Şanlıurfa, Turkey and mean of her name is movable star having a tour around world in each century. She moved to İstanbul with her family. She graduated from the Amerikan Kız Lisesi, which is one of the best high school in Istanbul. During high school, she got ballet education in İstanbul Devlet Konservatuar. Her being interested in music led her to get vocal training from Şerif Yüzbaşıoğlu in 1965. After a while, She started to sing unprofessionally in Kanat Gür Orkestrası.

She met with Los Bravos that came for concert in İstanbul. When the band caught her music interest, they offered a role to her in a musical film after going back to Spain. She was gone to Spain for the film in 1968. She performed there in different fields such as being model for record picture, acting in commercial, being back vocal behind band. Meanwhile, she attracted the attention of Paramount Pictures. She was offered a small part in Villa Rides and she acted with Yul Brynner, Robert Mitchum. Then she came back to Turkey and appeared on Turkish films. Her performing vamp role in films attracted the attention. After that, she left Turkey and went to Germany to get married with Peter Harold, Los Bravos's guitarist. After having a daughter, she finished her marriage and came back to Turkey. She picked up where she left off. After a period of time, she gave up movie and led to music.

Career

Taner signed a record deal with the 1 Numara Plakçılık, a label belonging to Ali Kocatepe. Her debut 45 rpm record "Tanrı Şahidimdir - Şimdi Sen Varsın" was released in 1974.^[3] The following year, her second 45 rpm record "Nene Hatun - Yalnızlığı Bir de Bana Sor" was released. However, her first two records did not bring her a great success. Meanwhile, she embarked her career at stage projects. Professionally first time, she took to the stage on "Lalezar Gazinosu". After a while, she took to the stage as a group with Seyhan Karabay and Sedat Avcı. In 1976, she transferred to Yavuz Asöcal's record company and released her third 45 rpm record "Son Verdim Kalbimin İşine - Elveda". This record became a top seller and thanks to the record, she had a big break. Her songs with dance show provided her remaining on the agenda of Turkish music. In the same year, her film Çizmeli Kedi brought together a lot of celebrities. In 1979, she appeared on TRT with Halil Ergün by preparing first Turkish TV musical^[3] Çırpınış, a different version of Asiye Nasıl Kurtulur. She opened a dance school with Sait Sökmen and educated dancers for show business, such as Hakan Peker and Nadia. Through the 1970s, she had great hits, such as "Kalbimi Affettim", "Seni Çok Özledim", "Gülme Komşuna".

In 1980, she released her first long play "Lider" and in 1986, her second album "Leyla". While she became second with the song "Dünya" in 1986 Eurovision National Final, she and Lokomotif became first with the song "Şarkım Sevgi Üstüne" in 1987 Eurovision National Final. They failed to score any points and finished last in the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest.^[4] However, this performance was shown in the category of "Notable Shows" in 50th anniversary of ESC. After the result, she took a break. Then she returned to music and recorded "Nanay" album. Through the 1980s, she had great hits, such as "Elalem Ne Der", "Naciye", "Leyla", "Nanay" and "Neler Oluyor".^[5]

In 1990, she moved to Bodrum. In 1991, she released her best seller album "Alladı Pulladı". She showed one of her different characteristic by preparing lyrics and music of some songs in the album. In 1993, she released "Geliyorum" album and she gave a long break to music. Through the first half of the 1990s, she had great hits, such as "Alladı Pulladı", "Şiirimin Dili", "Kırk Yılık Kani", "La Havle Ya Settar".

In 2002, she returned and released her best of album "Seyyalname". After this album, she released "En İyileriyle Seyyal Taner" in 2005 and "En İyileriyle Seyyal Taner 2" in 2007. In 2007, she had a duet song "Erkek Adamsın" with Zakkum in Zakkum's first studio album, in March 2012, she released her maxi-single album; Ethnic Rock.^[6] First video clip from this album was shot for Sevda Zindanları. With this album, Taner started a concert series. In 2014, she sang "Canımsın Deme Bana" in the album of "Wonderland" belonging to İlhan Erşahin.

Seyyal Taner is considered a gay icon, and the Turkish LGBT community has embraced her as a pop culture icons.^[7] According to the LGBT magazine, KAOS GL, Seyyal Taner is the greatest gay icon.^[8]

Discography

Studio albums

• Lider (1981)
• Leyla (1986)
• Nanay (1989)
• Alladı Pulladı (1991)
• Kalbimi Affettim (1993)
• Geliyorum (1993)
• Seyyalname (2002)
• Ethnic Rock (2012)

Discography

LP recordings

• Tanrı Şahidimdir - Şimdi Sen Varsın (Bir Numara, 1974) (writer(s), Ali Kocatepe)
• Nene Hatun - Yalnızlığı Bir de Bana Sor (Bir Numara, 1975) (writer (s), Ali Kocatepe, Doğan Canku, et al.)^[3]
• Son Verdim Kalbimin İşine - Elveda (Yavuz, 1976) (writer (s), Ülkü Aker.)
• Kalbimi Affettim - Sarmaş Dolaş (Yavuz, 1976) (writer (s), Ülkü Aker, et al.)^[9]
• Gülme Komşuna Gelir Başına - Seni Çok Özledim (Yavuz, 1977) (writer (s) Çiğdem Talu and Melih Kibar)^[9]
• Sorma Neydi O - Neden Gelmedin (Yavuz, 1977) (writer (s) Çiğdem Talu and Melih Kibar)
• Şarkım Sevgi Üstüne-Une Melodie (TRT, 1987) (Şarkım Sevgi Üstüne)

Compilations featuring Seyyal Taner

• En İyileriyle Seyyal Taner 2 (Ossi Music, 1986)
• En İyileriyle Seyyal Taner (Ossi Music, 2005) ^[10]
• The Best of Seyyal Taner (Elenor, 2009)

Filmography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Seyyal Taner.

• Seyyal Taner on Twitter
• Seyyal Taner on Facebook
• Seyyal Taner discography at Discogs
• Seyyal Taner at the Internet Movie Database