Bülent Ersoy (1952) is a famous singer of Turkish classical music, who started her life and music career male but became female by a sex change operation in London in 1981.
Bülent Ersoy and her family moved from Malatya to Istanbul in the early 60’s. After she studied classical Turkish music at the Istanbul Municipality Conservatory, she released her first long play in 1971 and started public performances at the Maksim Gazinosu in 1974. Ever since she started her performances, she took attention by her costumes and sexual choice as a male until she had a sex operation in London in 1981.
After the military coup in 1981 she was banned from public performances due to homophobic and transphobic regime of the 80’s. Although she petitioned the Turkish courts to legally recognize her as a woman but the petition was rejected in 1982 and it took her years to get a pink ID which women are given. In 1989 she was shot at a performance in Adana by a angry spectator because she didn’t sing a song in the way he asked and she lost one of her kidneys. In 1997 she was awarded with the International Montu Merdi Doctorate of Music.
Did you know?
She is the first Turkish musician who gave concerts at the London Palladium in 1980, at the Madison Square Garden in 1983 and at the Olympia in 1997 as the first Turkish singer after Dario Morneo, a famous singer in 60’s.
www.divabulentersoy.com
