Hadise Açıkgöz was born on the 21st of October 1985 to Turkish parents in Mol, Flanders, Belgium. She was raised in an environment where her parent encouraged her immensely to follow her dreams and develop her creativity. Although she had studied economics and modern languages (it is said that the singer is fluent in five languages; Turkish, Dutch, French, German and English, singing has always been her passion. The young hopeful finally took the plunge and entered the Belgian version of Pop Idol, Idool in 2003. Although she failed to qualify for the show, her performance didn’t go unnoticed. Local music svengali Johan Hendrickx spotted her potential and was quick to offer the budding starlet a record contract.
Hadise was signed to the 2Brain label in 2005, and shortly after released her debut single Sweat. Even without a music video, the track still managed to climb to #19 on the Flemish Ultratop chart. Her follow up single, Stir Me Up attracted similar interest, only this time gaining huge popularity in Turkey, paving the way for bigger things. A third single Milk Chocolate Girl was also released, going on to become the biggest hit from her debut album Sweat, making #13 on the Ultratop chart. Her album Sweat was released in November 2005 in Belgium, breaking the top 20 of the Belgian album charts, achieving 17th place.
2008 saw the release of her follow up album, the self entitled Hadise, with the lead single A Good Kiss released in Ocotber 2007. This was Hadise’s first single to make it onto the Turkish Billboard charts, peaking at #3. My Body followed, becoming her biggest hit in Belgium and simultaneously winning her new fans across the Balkan region. Her album achieved similar success to its predecessor, and her ever increasing popularity landed her a presenter spot on the Flemish version of X Factor.
Hadise’s friend Kate Ryan had previously competed for Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest, an experience which prompted Hadise to rule out any future participation onher part at the event. In 2009, however, previous scepticism had seemingly been brushed aside when in 2008 she announced her intention to take part and represent Turkey. National broadcaster TRT confirmed their selection of Hadise in October 2008. Work continued in the mean time on her third studio album Fast Life, which would also include her Eurovision entry Düm Tek Tek. The album fared slightly better than her two previous efforts, making #16 on the Flemish album charts and even achieveing #66 on the Japanese charts! Hadise simultaneously released a Turkish language album to cement her success, Kahraman (Hero), with lead single Evlenmeliyiz (Let’s Get Married) climbing to #6 on the Turkish charts.
Following a succesfull tour, Hadise commenced work on her follow up Turkish album Aşk Kaç Beden Giyer? (What Size Does Love Wear?) which was released in April 2011, with the track Superman being scheduled as the lead single.
The talented singer cites musical influences as varied as Shakira, Christina Aguilera, Janet Jackson, Prince, Alicia Keys and Mariah Carey. The young star is also something of a philanthropist, devoting a considerable amount of her time and energy to charitable causes, chiefly cancer research in Belgium, and has also acted as one of the front figures for an anti bullying campaign due to earlier traumatic childhood experiences.
