The story published on PleaseKillMe.com tells of the life and death of singer, songwriter, movie star, poet and designer Zeki Müren, a flamboyant, openly gay entertainer who was beloved and celebrated in a predominantly Muslim, conservative country.
While his contemporary Liberace is mostly forgotten in America today, Müren has become an LGBT hero in Turkey, and because of his bravery and innovations, compared not to Mr. Candelabra, but to David Bowie.
"He wore platform shoes higher than Elton John’s;
space-age queen outfits more daring than David Bowie’s,
heavier femme makeup than flash-in-the-pants Jobriath.
He once performed
for top government and military officials
in high heels, sparkly tights and miniskirt,
with peacock feathers sprouting from his ass.
By then, he was known as ‘The Pasha of Turkish Music.'
'Pasha' is the title
of a high-ranking Turkish military officer.
It’s also a type of butterfly.”
Zeki Müren died on live television. That’s how Jeff and Burt, authors of a new book on performers who died on stage, found his story. It was richer than they could imagine. They got the details of Müren's meeting with Mick Jagger, and even dug up a 1963 memo from the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, in which it was ordered that the red carpet be rolled out and a meeting with Sammy Davis Jr, be arranged for the “Frank Sinatra - Dean Martin of Turkey."
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