page_title: Tarkan (singer)
section_title: 2001–06: Karma, Dudu and Come Closer
hierarchical_section_title: Tarkan (singer) / Career / 2001–06: Karma, Dudu and Come Closer
caption_attribution_description: Tarkan in Vienna, 2006, 23 June. Fan meeting.
context_page_description: Tarkan Tevetoğlu is a Turkish singer-songwriter. Since the early 1990s, with the successful sales of his albums, he has been a prominent figure of the Turkish pop music, being known in both Turkey and Europe.
  Tarkan was born and raised in Alzey, Rhineland-Palatinate. In 1986, he moved to Turkey together with his family. Tarkan, who had been interested in music since his childhood, went to high school at Karamürsel and took music lessons. In the following years, he met the owner of İstanbul Plak, Mehmet Söğütoğlu, and signed a contract to release his own album.
  Tarkan released his first album Yine Sensiz in late 1992 with "Kıl Oldum" being chosen as its lead single. His second and third albums, Aacayipsin and Ölürüm Sana, were released in 1994 and 1998 respectively. The song "Şımarık" from Ölürüm Sana became popular in a number of countries. In 1998, he signed a new contract with Universal Music Group. In 1999, his compilation album, Tarkan, received platinum and gold certifications in several countries. In 2001, he made music videos for the songs "Kuzu Kuzu, "Hüp" and "Verme" from his fourth studio album Karma.
context_section_description: Tarkan released the lead single of his fourth studio album "Kuzu Kuzu" in May 2001, which sold 200,000 copies on cassettes and 500,000 copies in CD format. Three months later, in July 2001 his fourth studio album Karma was released. Tarkan wrote and composed six of the songs, and Nazan Öncel, Mete Özgencil and Mazhar Alanson helped in its preparing. The album Karma sold one and a half million copies. Although Karma was not released worldwide, it was distributed in large shipments to Russia, where he had become the largest-selling non-Russian pop star. A million copies shipped to other areas of Europe, including Denmark. "Hüp" and "Verme", became the album's other songs to get music videos, and the clip for "Hüp" was subject to various negative criticisms. When the video, directed by Ferzan Özpetek, was released, the Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council considered banning it from television broadcast, as some viewers complained that the scene in which Tarkan kisses actress Sinemis Candemir was too "explicit" and "pornographic". The case was reported through Europe by the BBC. At the Golden Butterfly Awards, "Hüp" was awarded with the "Best Video Clip" award; and Tarkan himself received the "Best Male Turkish Pop Music Soloist" award in addition to an honorary award. Tarkan's so-called Karma-era style projected an image totally different from his earlier persona in respect to both music and looks. His appearance – tight trousers, loose, unbuttoned shirts or tight T-shirts – and his new hairdo set a trend among young Turkish men, who started to copy his looks. According to hairdressers, his Kuzu Kuzu hairstyle was the most frequently requested style in the salons of Turkey. During this time he met Michael Lang, co-organiser of the Woodstock Festival, who became his international manager. According to Lang, Tarkan is a great singer and his performance is great.
  In 2001 researcher Dr. N Aysun Yüksel published a book titled Tarkan – Yıldız Olgusu (Tarkan – Anatomy of a Star), which was withdrawn from bookshelves by a court order after Tarkan's lawyer Süheyl Atay sued the writer. According to the court's decision the book published personal information and copyrighted photos of the artist, and violated his good reputation. In 2002, Tarkan released two new singles "Özgürlük İçimizde" and "Bir Oluruz Yolunda"; modifications in the song "Bir Oluruz Yolunda" were made for the Turkish national football team's entry to the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
  Tarkan's EP album Dudu was produced by Ozan Çolakoğlu and released in summer 2003 in Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and Japan. It was the first album of its kind to sell over a million copies in Turkey, while the title track won Tarkan a "Song of the Year Award" in Russia. Although musically a continuation from Karma, in terms of image Dudu presented different visuals from the 2001–2003 period. Sexuality became secondary in terms of fashion and concerts were toned down to become intimate affairs. The new image portrayed a more laid back Tarkan sporting shorter hair and wearing less glamorous designs. It was a declaration that glitz and sex were no longer a necessary tool to sell his works. Indicating his desire to show different sides of his personality, he said of his new look: "It's not important how sexy I look or whether I dance sexy". "Dudu", "Sorma Kalbim", "Gülümse Kaderine" and "Uzun İnce Bir Yoldayım", were the song from the EP that were made into music videos. The album sold one million copies. In 2004, Tarkan was chosen as the "Best Male Pop Music Artist" at the Turkey Music Awards.
  In 2005, Tarkan released the single "Ayrılık Zor" followed by "Bounce" in 2006, which was sold in Europe as well. In April 2006, after a long period of preparations, he released his English studio album Come Closer on 7 April. It included 15 songs in total. The plans for Come Closer had begun in 1995, when media mogul Ahmet Ertegun encouraged Tarkan to break into the international market. The album, ranked 18th on Germany's music charts, 43rd on Switzerland's charts, 50th on Austria's charts; and sold 11
caption: Tarkan in Vienna in 2006
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "FinePix2600Zoom", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Digital Camera FinePix2600Zoom Ver3.00", "Image DateTime": "2001:01:26 09:50:27", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "254", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1102", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "11983", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2001:01:26 09:50:27", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2001:01:26 09:50:27", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "8/5", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "6", "EXIF ApertureValue": "18/5", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "53/50", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "18/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired", "EXIF FocalLength": "18", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1200", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "954", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "3053", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "3053", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed"}