Barış Manço was born in
Üsküdar,
Istanbul,
Turkey on 2 January 1943. Born in
Adana, his mother Rikkat Uyanık, was a famous singer in the early 1940s. His older brother, who was also born during
World War II, was named Savaş ("War" in
Turkish) while he was named Barış ("Peace" in Turkish) by his parents to celebrate the end of the war. At birth, he was additionally named Tosun Yusuf after his deceased uncle Yusuf nicknamed Tosun (literally: Joseph the Sturdy). However, this name was erased just before he attended primary school. During his time at
Galatasaray High School (and later in Şişli Terakki High School) in the 1950s he formed his first band, Kafadarlar (The Buddies), allegedly after seeing
Erkin Koray's band - all students at the nearby
Deutsche Schule Istanbul (
İstanbul Alman Lisesi) - performing. Prof. Dr. Asaf Savaş Akat, a famous economist in Turkey, played
saxophone, while
guitarist Ender Enön made his own guitar because it was difficult to find a real one on the market in those years. In 1962 and 1963, with his next band, Harmoniler (The Harmonies), he recorded cover versions of some popular American
twist songs and rearrangements of Turkish folk songs in
rock and roll form, thus marking the beginning of the
Anatolian rock movement, a synthesis of
Turkish folk music and
rock. In this period, his key visual and musical influence was
Elvis Presley. After graduating from high school in 1963, he moved to Europe, traveling to Paris and
Liège where he formed bands with local musicians and recorded some singles mainly in English and French but also in Turkish. Then, in 1964, he resumed his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Liège, Belgium. He toured with his band Les Mistigris (not related to Mistigris) in
Germany,
Belgium,
France and
Turkey until 1967. In 1967, he suffered a serious car accident, after which he started to grow his signature moustache to conceal his scar. Frustrated by the difficulties of working with musicians from different nationalities, he formed Kaygısızlar (The Carefrees), featuring
Mazhar Alanson and
Fuat Güner, future members of the band
MFÖ. He recorded several singles and toured with the band, both domestically and internationally, until the band members protested that they did not want to live abroad. In 1970, he formed Barış Manço Ve... (Barış Manço and...) again with foreign musicians, to record his first hit single,
Dağlar Dağlar (Mountains, Mountains!), which was a success in both Turkey and Belgium, selling over 700,000 copies. It remains one of his most popular songs. == 1970s ==