Gülben Ergen (; born 25 August 1972) is a Turkish singer and actress. Ergen started her career as an actress, and later decided to enter the music industry. She started her music career as a headliner. In 2001, for her role as Melek in the comedy series Dadı which adaptation of "The Nanny", she won the award for Best Actress at the Golden Butterfly Awards. In 2002, the lead single from her album Sade ve Sadece was awarded the Best Composition of the Year at the Turkey Music Awards. In 2004 Ergen's album Uçacaksın sold 600,000 copies and received a diamond certification from Mü-Yap. In 2009, Ergen and Oğuzhan Koç released the song "Giden Günlerim Oldu" which became a number-one hit on Türkçe Top 20. As of 2015, her albums have sold 2 million copies in total. Life and career 1972–96: Early life and career beginnings Gülben Ergen was born in Istanbul on 25 August 1972. After attending Erenköy Girls High School, she got enrolled at the Kadıköy Business High School and finished her studies there. At the age of 16, Ergen earned the second place in the Cinema Star Contest organized by Hürriyet, and after finishing high school she pursued a career in modeling. Ergen made her cinematic debut in the 1988 movie Biz Ayrılamayız, which starred Bülent Ersoy. In the same year, she got a leading role in Kartal Tibet's movie Deniz Yıldızı alongside Kenan Kalav. She later appeared alongside Cüneyt Arkın in Av, and had a role in Kanun Savaşçıları together with Eşref Kolçak. Meanwhile, Ergen lost her eldest brother, who was five years older than her, in a car crash. In 1994, she joined the staff of İbrahim Tatlıses at the Maksim Casino and later appeared in Tatlıses's music video "Haydi Söyle". Ergen, who started her music career during this period, was trained by Nurdan Torun's personnel. She was later cast in İbrahim Tatlıses's TV series Fırat. 1997–2001: Merhaba, Marziye, Kör Aşık and Dadı Gülben Ergen's first album Merhaba was released in September 1997 by Elenor Müzik. Separate music videos were made for the songs "Sana Sana", "Yaramaz", "Aşkta Kural Tanımam", "Boşvere Boşvere" and "Sensiz Mutlu Olamam". In December 1999, her second studio album Kör Aşık was released. Şehrazat and Sezen Aksu were among the lyricists of this album. During this period, Ergen had her own program titled Gümbür Gümbür Gülbence aired on television, and in