He started playing bağlama at the age of six and dropped out of high school to pursue a career in music.
In 1989, he demonstrated his mastery of the şelpe [tr] technique of bağlama on his second album Gece ile Gündüz Arasında (Between Night and Day).
On 2 July 1993 he went to Sivas to take part in the Pir Sultan Abdal Cultural Festival alongside many other musicians, authors, poets and intellectuals.
His wife gave birth to their son, Roni Hasret Gültekin, three months after his death.
In 2020, a statue of Gültekin was erected on the grounds of a cemevi (Alevi prayer house) in the Turkish province of Dersim.