Charles Elton

Emel Sayın was born on November 20, 1945, in Şarkışla, Sivas. When it was time for her to start primary school, she was sent to live with her grandmother and began her education at Kayseri Cumhuriyet İlkokulu. Always winning first place in school singing competitions, she then moved to Konya to complete her middle school education, where her family lived. Later, her family moved to Üsküdar. At the age of 13, she began taking music lessons from Arif Sami Toker, and later from Münir Nurettin Selçuk, further developing her talent. After graduating from Çapa Anadolu Öğretmen Lisesi, she took vocal lessons for three years at the Istanbul Municipal Conservatory from Alis Rosenthal, who had also taught Münir Nurettin Selçuk. During this time, she was chosen as the 'Voice Queen' in a competition held by the Hürriyet News Agency, singing a classical piece by Münir Nurettin Selçuk. At the age of 17, she had her first stage performance at Gönül Yazar's (Necdet Yazar's first wife) nightclub in Ankara Gençlik Parkı. In 1963, she passed the Ankara Radio audition, beginning a seven-year career there before moving to Istanbul Radio. Simultaneously, she performed as a soloist at the Lalezâr Gazinosu. Quickly rising to fame, she released albums and appeared in films. She also ventured into television, appearing in the TV series *Aşkım Aşkım* in 2001 and later in *Karınca Yuvası*. Her most well-known film role is in the 1974 movie *Mavi Boncuk*, co-starring Tarık Akan.