Bülent Ersoy

Birthday: June 9, 1952 in Istanbul, Turkey

Birth Name: Bülent Erkoç

Bulent was already a popular singer in Turkey when he travelled to England to have a sex change in 1981, becoming a woman yet retaining the traditionally male birth name of Bulent. Under a crackdown o ...Show More

Bulent was already a popular singer in Turkey when he travelled to England to have a sex change in 1981, becoming a woman yet retaining the traditionally male birth name of Bulent. Under a crackdown on "social deviance" by then Turkish leader Kenan Evren, Bulent was banned from public performances and was also refused a court petition to have her sex re-classfied as female. Ersoy left entertainment in protest until 1988, when changes in the Turkish legal code allowed for MtoF transsexuals to be legally classfied as women. Bulent returned to recording, and actually became even more popular as a female vocalist than she had been as a man.In 1998, Bulent caused controversy again when she married her 27-year-old companion, Cem Adler - yet the controversy was over the 20+ age difference between them, not the fact that Bulent had once been a man. The couple divorced a year later after Bulent caught Cem with a call girl. In January of 1999, Bulent was involved in a serious car accident which required surgery. She recovered and continues to record albums. Hide