Influential Turkish singer Muzaffer Akgun dies at 85

Turkish folk singer Muzaffer Akgun died on Saturday aged 85.

A funeral service for Akgun, the country’s first gold record winner, will be held at Istanbul’s Tesvikiye mosque on Tuesday - the same day national broadcaster TRT’s Istanbul Radio will run a program in her memory.

Akgun’s friend, singer Onur Akay, told Anadolu Agency of her death.

Born in 1930 in Istanbul, Akgun started her career 16 years later with Ankara Radio. In a career that spanned radio, TV and film work, she was one of Turkey’s biggest stars of the 1960s and had a huge influence on following generations of Turkish musicians.