IN: Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Turkish pronunciation: [re'dZep taj'jip 'aerdo(W)an] ( listen); born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the current President of Turkey, holding the position since 2014. He previously served as Prime Minister from 2003 to 2014 and as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He founded the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2001, leading it to general election victories in 2002, 2007 and 2011 before standing down upon his election as President in 2014.

Erdogan was born in 1954 in the Kasimpasa neighborhood of Istanbul, to which his family had moved from Rize Province. His parents are Ahmet Erdogan and Tenzile Erdogan. Erdogan reportedly said in 2003, "I'm a Georgian, my family is a Georgian family which migrated from Batumi to Rize." But in a 2014 televised interview on the NTV news network, he said, "You wouldn't believe the things they have said about me. They have said I am Georgian... forgive me for saying this... even much uglier things, they have even called me an Armenian, but I am Turkish." In an account based on registry records, his genealogy was tracked to an ethnic Turkish family.  Erdogan spent his early childhood in Rize, where his father Ahmet Erdogan (1905 - 1988) was a Captain in the Turkish Coast Guard. Erdogan had a brother Mustafa (b. 1958) and sister Vesile (b. 1965). His summer holidays were mostly spent in Guneysu, Rize, where his family originates from. Throughout his life he often returned to this spiritual home, and in 2015 he opened a vast mosque on a mountaintop near this village. The family returned to Istanbul when Erdogan was 13 years old.  As a teenager, he sold lemonade and sesame buns (simit) on the streets of the city's rougher districts to earn extra money. Brought up in an observant Muslim family, Erdogan graduated from Kasimpasa Piyale primary school in 1965, and Imam Hatip school, a religious vocational high school, in 1973. He received his high school diploma from Eyup High School. He subsequently studied Business Administration at the Aksaray School of Economics and Commercial Sciences, now known as Marmara University's Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences--although several Turkish sources dispute that he graduated.  In his youth, Erdogan played semi-professional football at a local club. Fenerbahce wanted him to transfer to the club but his father prevented it. The stadium of the local football club in the district where he grew up, Kasimpasa S.K. is named after him.  Erdogan married Emine Gulbaran (born 1955, Siirt) on 4 July 1978. They have two sons; Ahmet Burak and Necmettin Bilal, and two daughters, Esra and Sumeyye. His father, Ahmet Erdogan, died in 1988 and his 88-year-old mother, Tenzile Erdogan, died in 2011. He is a member of the Community of Iskenderpasa, a Turkish sufistic community of Naqshbandi tariqah.

where did he go to school?

OUT: Erdogan graduated from Kasimpasa Piyale primary school in 1965, and Imam Hatip school, a religious vocational high school, in 1973.


IN: Martha and the Vandellas (known from 1967 to 1972 as Martha Reeves and the Vandellas) were an American all-female vocal group formed in 1957. The group achieved fame in the 1960s with Motown. Selected Members of the group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. Formed in 1957 by friends Annette Beard, Rosalind Ashford and Gloria Williams, the group eventually included Martha Reeves, who moved up in ranks as lead vocalist of the group after Williams' departure in 1962.

Teenagers Rosalind Ashford and Annette Beard first became acquainted after a local music manager hired them to be members of a girl group he named The Del-Phis. Ashford & Beard, along with then-lead vocalist Gloria Williams, performed at local clubs, private events, church benefits, YMCA events and school functions. They were also being coached by Maxine Powell at Detroit's Ferris Center. One of the group's first professional engagements was singing background for singer Mike Hanks.  The group originally had up to six members, shortened to four. After another member left the group, she was replaced by Alabama-born vocalist Martha Reeves, who had been a member of a rival group, the Fascinations and had also been a member of another group, the Sabre-Ettes. In 1960, the group signed their first recording contract with Checker Records, releasing the Reeves-led "I'll Let You Know". The record flopped. The group then recorded for Checkmate Records, a subsidiary of Chess Records, recording their first take of "There He Is (At My Door)". That record, featuring Williams on lead vocals, also flopped.  Briefly separated, Reeves returned to a solo career performing under the name Martha LaVaille, in hopes of getting a contract with emerging Detroit label Motown. After Motown staffer Mickey Stevenson noticed Reeves singing at a prominent Detroit club, he offered her his business card for an audition. Reeves showed up at Motown on a wrong date (Motown auditions were held at Thursdays, while Reeves showed up to Motown's Hitsville USA studios on a Tuesday). Stevenson, initially upset, told Reeves to look out for clients and other matters. Soon Reeves became Stevenson's secretary and later was responsible for helping acts audition for the label. By 1961, the group, now known as The Vels, were recording background vocals for Motown acts. Prior to her success as lead singer of The Elgins, Sandra Edwards (then going by her surname Maulett) recorded the song "Camel Walk", in 1962, which featured the Vels in background vocals. That year, the quartet began applying background vocals for emerging Motown star Marvin Gaye, singing on Gaye's first hit single, "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" After Mary Wells failed to make a scheduled recording session feigning a short illness, the Vels recorded what was initially a demo recording of "I'll Have to Let Him Go". Motown was so impressed by the group's vocals - and Martha's lead vocals in the song - that the label CEO Berry Gordy offered to give the group a contract. Figuring that being in show business was too rigorous, Williams opted out of the group. With Williams out, the remaining trio of Ashford, Beard and Reeves renamed themselves The Vandellas, after Detroit's Van Dyke Street and Reeves' favorite singer, Della Reese.

did they record any music?

OUT:
In 1960, the group signed their first recording contract with Checker Records, releasing the Reeves-led "I'll Let You Know