Polad Bülbüloğlu

Polad Bülbüloğlu
On the ceremony of rewarding the order of Honour. (2015)
Background information
Birth name	Polad Murtuza oğlu Məmmədov
Born	(1945-02-04) February 4, 1945 (age 72)
Origin	Baku, AzSSR, USSR
Genres	Pop, folk
Occupation(s)	Singer, composer, actor
Years active	1968–present

Polad Bülbüloğlu (Russian: Полад Бюль-Бюль Оглы; born February 4, 1945) is a Soviet and Azerbaijani singer, actor, politician, and diplomat. Bülbüloğlu became famous in the Soviet Union with composing jazz-influenced pop songs which has heavy Azeri folk feelings in Russian and Azerbaijani languages. He also sang his own songs. Three of his songs became Songs of the Year and he received numerous prestigious awards in the Soviet Union. Bülbüloğlu is a lyrical tenor.

In the 1990s, despite having a huge success with a new version of his old song Gəl Ey Səhər (Come, Hey Morning!) in Turkey and sold out concerts in Russia, Bülbüloğlu started a political career. He became the Minister of Culture of Azerbaijan and is currently the Azerbaijani ambassador to Russia.

Bülbüloğlu was born Polad Murtuza oğlu Məmmədov on February 4, 1945 in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR. His father was Bulbul (1897–1961), a famous Azeri opera singer and a native of Shusha, who exposed Polad to musical culture from an early age. His Batumi-born mother Adelaida Mammadova (née Gasimova, 1922–2015), who was the director of the Bulbul Museum until her death, was the daughter of Rza Gasimov, son of an Azeri merchant from Erivan, and his wife Ketevan who belonged to the Georgian noble Vezirishvili family. Polad studied the piano in a music school and then studied composing in the Baku Academy of Music, under Gara Garayev. By the age of 17 he composed several songs that were performed by professionals, as well as songs for his friend Muslim Magomayev. Bülbüloğlu's singing talent was also discovered on a trip to Moscow with Magomayev, where Bülbüloğlu recorded his own songs in the Azerbaijani language.