Mustafa Sandal

Mustafa Sandal
Birth name	Mustafa Sandal
Born	January 11, 1970 (1970-01-11) (age 41)
Origin	Istanbul, Turkey
Genres	Pop, Techno, Dance, R&B, World, Folk
Occupations	Singer-songwriter performer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1994–present
Labels	Yada Productions, Universal Music Group, Seyhan Müzik
Associated acts	Zerrin Özer, Sezen Aksu, Hakan Peker, Panjabi MC, Sertab Erener, Ajda Pekkan, Ferda Anil Yarkin, Izel, Emina Jahovic ...
Website	mustinet.net

Mustafa Sandal, commonly known as Musti, is a famous Turkish pop singer. He is fluent in English, Turkish, Italian and French. He emerged in the early 1990s with the revival of Turkish pop music and is one of the most successful pop singers in Turkey with overall sales of 13 million copies. Musti is famous in Europe for his songs "Moonlight", "Araba" and "İsyankar" in countries such as Germany, Belgium Switzerland,^[1] and Austria.^[2] He is also known in the United States, Russia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. Sandal is married to popular Serbian Muslim(Sandzak) singer Emina Jahović and has a son with her.

Early life

Mustafa Sandal was born on 11 January 1970 in Istanbul. When he started school, his classmates and teachers quickly realized his talents in music. When Musti heard a song, he was immediately able to pick out the different instruments and their melodies throughout the music. He finished high school at Collège du Léman in Geneva, Switzerland. He then attended New Hampshire College in the United States. After graduating, he went back to Istanbul. During this time, Musti became involved in writing music with many songwriters. In a short time, he began to write his own music and wrote songs for famous Turkish singers Zerrin Özer, Hakan Peker, Ant Eater and Aysegül Aldinç.

Career

Mustafa Sandal released his debut album Suç Bende in 1994. It sold 1.7 million copies and became the greatest selling album of the year with a landslide victory. During this time, Musti gave 140 concerts throughout Turkey as well as thirty concerts in Europe. Musti was interested in working with all areas of music; he wanted to be not only a singer, but also a songwriter and producer. In 1995, Musti helped write songs and produce Turkish pop singer Sibel Alaş's album "Adam" ("Man"). The album was successful and sold 400,000 copies. In 1996, Musti moved to London to isolate himself from fans while preparing his next album. Later that year, he released his second album Gölgede Aynı and it sold 2.6 million copies. After the outstanding popularity of this album, he performed 140 concerts throughout Turkey. The third music video of the album for the song "Bir Anda" used tie-clip techniques which were a first for Turkish fans. Musti also produced Turkish pop singer İzel's album "Emanet" ("Possession") later that year. Musti's third album Detay was the first album released from his newly established record label YADA Productions. In 2000, after the success of Tarkan, Musti signed a contract with Sony Music France and released a compilation album titled Araba. Later that year, Musti released his fourth album Akışına Bırak but had disappointing sales. However, the duet with Natalia for the song "Hatırla Beni," originally a Greek/Egyptian song called "ELEOS" sung by Angela Dimitriou and Amr Diab became very successful and a concert tour of Turkey followed.

In 2001, Prestij Müzik, the parent company of Musti's YADA Productions, was bankrupted and Musti signed into Erol Köse Productions. In 2002, Musti released his fifth studio album Kop which contained the 2002 hit "Pazara Kadar" ("Until Sunday"/"Until the Market") as well as releasing his first promotional single for the song Kopmam Lazım with Turkish phone service Telsim. In 2003, Musti released his first Maxi Single (EP/Hybrid Album) titled Maxi Sandal 2003 / Moonlight which included a Turkish/Greek duet of the Greek folk song "Anaveis Foties" as well as releasing his first European single Aya Benzer 2003. Musti also wanted to release songs in English in his next album Seven but due to conflicts with producer Erol Köse he released the album under a Universal label. In 2004, Musti released his second European single Araba 2004 along with a second version of Seven titled Seven New Version with little success.

Later in 2004, Musti released his second Maxi Single titled İste ("Want") which contained his 2004 hit İsyankar ("Rebellious"). The song was believed by some to be a remake of a song by Punjabi MC. Musti later performed the song with Punjabi MC in 2005. On 11 August 2005, Musti released his third single İsyankar in Europe and later won a Gold Record for high sales in Germany. The song reached the top 20 of several European countries peaking at number four in Switzerland.^[1] Later that year, Musti later released a third version of the Seven album titled Seven Reloaded. After disappointing sales, Musti announced that he was taking a career break. During this time, Musti worked on three commercials for Muhabbet Kart ("Chat Card"), a new promotion provided by Türkcell^{[citation needed]}. Musti also started giving concerts throughout Turkey. During one concert, he said "Bu yaz çok sessiz geçti. Yine iş bize duştu" ("This summer has been too quiet. It is again my responsibility to make the hits"). Suddenly, Musti started singing his Yamalı Tövbeler ("Patched Repentances") song. Unfortunately, Yamalı Tövbeler sold poorly and caused more tension between Musti and Erol Köse. Musti's contract was transferred to Seyhan Müzik. In 2006, Musti started to appear on Doğuş Otomobil's safe driving commercials^{[citation needed]}. It was also announced on his official website that his 1996 hit "Araba" would be translated and put into Shakira's next album.

Musti originally announced that his new album would be released in December 2006. In 2007, the new Musti FM radio on his official website confirmed that his album had been delayed to 23 April 2007, 19 May, and later to its official release date of 13 June 2007. In May, Musti invited Emina Jahovic to Istanbul and showed her three tracks he had written for her in his new album. She was deeply affected by them. To promote his album, Musti starred in three commercials for Muhabbet Kart with his grandfather, famous percussionist Hüseyin İleri^{[citation needed]} Musti also explained in an interview^{[citation needed]} that his grandfather raised him during his childhood and gave him motivation and interest towards music. In an interview with Turkish entertainment show Canlı Canlı^{[citation needed]}, Musti admitted that he is again in a relationship with Miss Emina Jahovic. Later in June, Seyhan Müzik announced that the Devamı Var album sold 200,000 copies in its first week and has reached number one in all music store listings in western areas of Turkey. Overall, in 2007 2.3 million copies of Devamı var CD was sold in Turkey and some European countries.

Musti is also going to play in a cinema movie called New York'ta Beş minare produced by Mahsun Kırmızıgül its expected to come out in 2010. This will be the first experience of Musti in his career as actor

Mustafa Sandal married the Serbian singer Emina Jahovic in January 2008. And they had their first son Yaman in August 2008.

Discography: notable works

Main article: Mustafa Sandal discography

Albums

• Suç Bende (My Fault)(1994)
• Gölgede Aynı (Same In the Shadow) (1996)
• Detay (Detail) (1998)
• Araba (Car) (2000)
• Akışına Bırak (Let It Go) (2000)
• Kop (Break) (2002)
• Seven (Lover) (2003)
• İste (Ask for It) (2004)
• Devamı Var (To Be Continued) (2007)
• Karizma (Charisma) (2009)

Singles

• Aya Benzer 2003 (Like The Moon) (2003)
• İsyankar (Rebel) (2005)

Movies

• Five Minarets in New York (Turkish: New York'ta Beş Minare) (2010)

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Swiss Charts
2. ^ Austrian Charts

Web Sites

• Mustafa Sandal Official Web Site
• Geocities - Mustafa Sandal
• Mustafa Sandal at The Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Sandal, Mustafa
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	11 January 1970
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death