Gülşen Çolakoğlu (, ; born 29 May 1976) is a Turkish singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Istanbul, she graduated from Şehremini High School. After finishing high school, Gülşen enrolled in Istanbul Technical University and at the same time began performing at bars and later left the university. In 1995, while performing at a bar, she was discovered by a composer and contracted with Raks Müzik for her first studio album.
Gülşen's debut album, Be Adam, was released in 1996, which made her known in the music industry, but she preferred to take a break from her professional career and instead focused on her marital life. In 2004, her fourth studio album Of... Of... became a hit in Turkey and a single with the same name as the album earned her both a Golden Butterfly Award and a Turkey Music Award. The Mü-Yap certified album Yurtta Aşk Cihanda Aşk (2006) and her subsequent albums had successful sales, and Beni Durdursan mı? (2013) became Turkey's best-selling album of the year, followed by Bangır Bangır (2015), which became the second best-selling album of 2015. The singles "Yurtta Aşk Cihanda Aşk", "Bi' An Gel", "Yeni Biri", "Sözde Ayrılık", "Yatcaz Kalkcaz Ordayım", "Kardan Adam", "İltimas", "Bangır Bangır" and "Bir İhtimal Biliyorum" all became number-one hits on Türkçe Top 20.
Gülşen, who has received positive reception from music critics and alongside her singing career is a prominent figure as a songwriter, started singing her own songs, especially after the early years of her career, and has produced many hit songs for her colleagues as well. In 2015, she became the Turkish singer with the most number of viewers on YouTube and a year later she became the first Turkish singer to have a music video watched over 200 million times on the platform. Throughout her career, she has won numerous awards, including six Golden Butterfly Awards and nine Kral Turkey Music Awards.
Life and career 1976–95: Early life and career beginnings Gülşen Bayraktar was born on 29 May 1976 in Fatih, Istanbul, to a family that originated from Ordu. She is her parents' third and last child. Her father, Arslan Bayraktar, was a mechanical engineer, while her mother, Nimet Bayraktar, was a housewife. She spent her childhood and youth in Çapa and together with her family visited Ordu Province several times a year, where they owned nut gardens. A fan of Far East martial arts, Gülşen began to learn karate in high school and later received her black belt. She was forced to use the martial art at the age 17 while she and her friend were harassed in the street and has said that similar occasions have happened several times in her daily life. After finishing her studies at Şehremini Anadolu High School, she began studying Turkish classical music at the Istanbul Technical University. Simultaneously, she began performing at night clubs and bars in Istanbul but as she couldn't handle both her studies and her job, she left the university after the first year. She subsequently got Turkish folk music lessons, and worked as a backing vocalist for Çelik and Bendeniz for three months. In 1995, she was discovered by producer Serap Turgay while performing at a bar in Bakırköy. After being introduced to Turgay's husband Özkan Turgay, Gülşen received an offer to make her first album. She finally signed a contract with Raks Müzik to produce four albums.
1996–2003: Be Adam, Erkeksen and Şimdi After signing a contract with Raks Müzik, Gülşen began working on her first album in the second half of 1995. Meanwhile, at the request of the production company, she played in a music video for Tulga's single "Ay Bu Kız Beni Öldürecek". Many of the songs in her first album Be Adam (Oh Man!) were written and composed by Serap and Özkan Turgay. It was released in July 1996 and featured the single "Gel Çarem". Following the release of the album, Milliyet wrote that Gülşen had made an ambitious start in her career. After releasing the music video for "Gel Çarem", she recorded a music video for a single with the same title as her album, "Be Adam". Gülşen, who was shown wearing a pajama in the music video, became known as the "pajama girl" in the Turkish media. Subsequently, a third and a fourth music video were released for "Saz mı Caz mı?" and "Son Sözüm". The album earned Gülşen a nomination in the Best Newcomer Female Artist category at the 3rd Kral TV Video Music Awards. A few months after the release of Be Adam, she married the nightclub operator Murat Varol. Following her marriage, she decided to put aside her career for a while.
In 1998, she signed a new contract with Prestij Müzik, which in return caused a dispute between her new and old producers. Gülşen was sued by Serap Turgay, who stated that Gülşen had agreed to work with Raks Müzik for another two years, while Mahsun Kırmızıgül from Prestij Müzik refused the accusations by saying that they had signed a contract with Gülşen after negotiations with the previous company had failed. As a result, the singer's second album Erkeksen (If You're A Man) was produced by Prestij Müzik and released in December 1998. Gülşen later stated that "[Following Be Adam] I made another album so that I could enjoy it, I went out on the scene several times in my husband's places." She wrote the lyrics for the singles "Yiğidim", "Delisin" and "Gözü Karalım", and subsequently separate music videos were released for each of them.
In the final months of 2000, Gülşen divorced her husband Murat Varol due to irreconcilable differences. Following their divorce, she refused the allegations of violence by her ex-husband, saying in a report: "He didn't beat me, I beat him because I have a black belt in karate." Her third studio album Şimdi (Now), which was also released by Prestij Müzik in November 2001, featured the leading single "İhanet" (Betrayal) written by Gülşen. It was about the couple's extramarital affairs during their marriage. The album's production company was affected during the 2001 Turkish economic crisis, and as a result, they produced one music video only for the song "İhanet".
2004–06: Of... Of..., Yurtta Aşk Cihanda Aşk For her fourth studio album, Gülşen signed a contract with Erol Köse Production and released the album Of... Of... (Ugh... Ugh...) in September 2004. Radio broadcaster Michael Kuyucu described it as "The best of Gülşen's career [up to now]". The album sold 335,000 copies in Turkey and Gülşen was chosen as the Best Female Pop Singer at the 11th Turkey Music Awards.Of... Of..., sold 232,000 copies in 2004 and 103,000 copies in 2005: The release of this album was a turning point in Gülşen's career, and Milliyet wrote: "The singer Gülşen, who had not been seen anywhere while married to Murat Varol, has changed completely after she left her husband. With her sexy image and new album, Gülşen has risen to stardom." The song "Of Of" from the same album became a hit in Turkey and was eventually chosen as the Song of the Year at the 11th Turkey Music Awards. After the release of a music video for "Of Of", three more music videos were made for the songs "Sakıncalı", "Nazar Değmesin" and "Sarışınım". The music video for "Sarışınım" was considered erotic by the Radio and Television Supreme Council, who said it "is contrary to social values and leads to sexual abuse". Kral TV and Number 1 TV were both charged for broadcasting the music video. In June 2005, a remixed version of Of... Of... was released.
Inspired by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's motto of "Yurtta sulh, cihanda sulh" (Peace at Home, Peace in the World), Gülşen titled her fifth studio album Yurtta Aşk Cihanda Aşk (Love at Home, Love in the World), which was released by Erol Köse Production in February 2006. The album ranked number one on D&R's list of best-selling albums, and sold 171,000 copies in Turkey, receiving a gold certification from Mü-Yap. Three music videos were made for the songs "Ya Tutarsa", "Yurtta Aşk Cihanda Aşk" and "Canın Sağolsun", the first of which rose to the top 5 on Türkçe Top 20, while the second one became a number-one hit."Ya Tutarsa" and "Yurtta Aşk Cihanda Aşk" chart positions: In June, producer Erol Köse revealed on a TV program that he was in a relationship with Gülşen. As he was married at the time, this caused a controversy in Turkey's media at the time. Gülşen, who organized a press conference to discuss the issue, confirmed that their relationship had begun in August 2005 when he told her that he was divorced, but two months earlier Köse had revealed to her that he was still married and she ended the relationship. Köse claimed that Gülşen knew about him being married since the beginning and this caused tension between the parties. As a result, Gülşen ended her contract with the Erol Köse's music company. Subsequently, Gülşen went to the court several times due to numerous issues involving Köse. Eventually, Gülşen started a relationship with journalist Reha Muhtar in July 2006 which lasted until February 2007.
2007–12: Ama Bir Farkla and Önsöz In the early months of 2007, Gülşen signed a contract with Ercan Saatçi's production company, Rec by Saatchi, to produce three new albums, and Erol Köse's negotiations to make a new deal with her failed. In May 2007, however, Erol Köse's production company released a previously recorded album by Gülşen, titled Mucize (Miracle). Eventually, Gülşen applied to the court to stop the distribution of the album, trying to release the album by another record company, saying that Köse was using her work to his benefit without permission. Her sixth studio album, Ama Bir Farkla (But with a Difference), was released in July by Rec by Saatchi. Three music videos were made for the songs "Kara Böcükler", "E Bilemem Artık" and "Su Gibi Geçerdi Zaman", the second of which ranked second on Turkey's music chart. In mid-2007, Gülşen was in a relationship with architect Fahrettin Aykut. In September 2007, she got in a feud with Bengü, an artist working for Erol Köse's production company, about whom Gülşen said: "I wouldn't be surprised if Bengü falls in love with Erol Köse." A month later, following her concert at a casino in Dikmen she was escorted by police out of the area due to the presence of alcoholic and armed people. It was later reported that she had been assaulted by firearm that night, although Milliyet questioned the credibility of this claim as there was no police report found about this issue. Later, when questioned about the incident by reporters Gülşen said: "It's true that I was assaulted. The incident was referred to the judiciary."
In July 2008, Gülşen released the single "Yapamazsan Yok", which ranked 11th on the Turkish music chart. At the end of July, Gülşen was among the singers who were featured on the album Uzay Heparı Sonsuza in tribute to the singer Uzay Heparı.