Ilanit

Ilanit was born Hana Dresner on September 17, 1947, in Tel Aviv.[1] Her parents, Tzila and Tuvia, were immigrants from Poland who had left in 1939 and reached pre-state Palestine aboard a ship that evaded British restrictions on Jewish immigration.[1][2] They had come at the urging of Ilanit's paternal grandfather, who had immigrated in 1932; Tuvia and four of his siblings followed him, while three other siblings remained in Poland and perished in the Holocaust.[2] Her mother also lost much of her immediate family; one brother survived Auschwitz.[2]

When Ilanit was five, her family relocated to Brazil, where her father — a tailor by trade — found plentiful work.[2] Despite the professional stability, he felt a deep longing for Israel and believed it was where he truly belonged.[2] Ilanit began performing there as a child, appearing on Brazilian television at age seven with a neighborhood band, singing samba.[1] The family returned to Israel in 1960, when she was twelve.[1] The transition was difficult: she did not speak Hebrew and was placed in a grade with younger children.[1] That same year, her cousin Eti Polishuk entered them both in a Maariv-WIZO young talent competition; Ilanit sang in Portuguese and Spanish and won first place.[1]

In 1965, music teacher Jacky Levy introduced Ilanit to Shlomo Tzach, and she joined what became the singing duo Ilan and Ilanit.[1] The duo's name was chosen by choreographer Yonatan Karmon, who wanted a pair to tour abroad with his dance troupe and preferred names more easily pronounced internationally than "Shlomo and Hana."[1] Ilanit left Israel at eighteen for a successful year-long international tour with Karmon's troupe.[1] Early radio hits for the duo included "Lechol Adam Kochav" and "Bo'i Señorina," which reached the top of Israeli popular-song charts, alongside recordings of "BaShana HaBa'a" and "VeShuv Itchem."[1] The pair won the titles "Duo of the Year" and the David's Violin Award on multiple occasions.[1]

Shlomo Tzach encouraged Ilanit to pursue a solo career beginning in 1968.[1] She first performed alone onstage at the 1969 Hebrew Song and Choral Festival, singing "Shir Be'Arba'a Batim."[1] Her first solo song, "Ayeh HaGan," did not achieve major success, but "Kvar Acharei Chatzot," written by Amos Ettinger and composed by Nurit Hirsch, became her breakthrough and reached the top of the charts.[1] Among her celebrated hits are "Eretz Eretz," "Bashana Haba'ah," "Ahavata Shel Tereza Dimon," and "Shir Al Nechalim."[2] She was named Israel's top female singer every year from 1971 through 1977 and represented Israel at song festivals and competitions in Brazil, Greece, and Japan, among other countries.[2] On July 22, 1969, she performed at Sharm el-Sheikh in Sinai alongside singer Ran Eliran.[3] A German record company's offer of a contract prompted painful reflection given her family's Holocaust losses, but her mother encouraged her to accept, reasoning that Germany had changed and that she should consider her future.[4]

Around 1969, Ilanit recorded a children's album titled Amichai at the Jordan Border: Ilanit Sings Children's Songs, with Nurit Hirsch serving as arranger and conductor.[5] Its songs included "Yoni the Little One" and "The Little Rabbit."[5] She additionally recorded a swinging version of the Ladino song "Avre Tu Puerta Cerrada," reflecting the breadth of her musical range.[6]

In 1973, Ilanit competed for Israel in its first Eurovision Song Contest appearance, performing "Ey Sham" ("Somewhere") in Luxembourg on April 7.[7] The song was written by Ehud Manor and composed by Nurit Hirsch, who that evening became the second woman to conduct a Eurovision orchestra.[8][9] The Israel Broadcasting Authority had required the entry to be in Hebrew, and Ilanit and the delegation largely funded their own participation through sponsorships, as the Authority provided no production budget.[8] Ilanit performed last among the 17 competing countries and finished fourth — the best debut result for any country for the next twenty years, and Israel's best result until its consecutive victories in 1978 and 1979.[9][7] "Ey Sham" also placed second in the annual Kol Yisrael and Army Radio song charts, and Ilanit was named Singer of the Year for 1973.[8]

The contest took place just seven months after eleven Israeli athletes were murdered at the Munich Summer Olympics, and security in Luxembourg was unusually strict: guards were stationed throughout the hall, and audience members — including women's bags — were searched.[9] She returned to Eurovision in London in 1977 with "Ahava Hi Shir Lishnayim" ("Love Is a Song for Two"), finishing eleventh.[9] Her selection for a second appearance generated public backlash that led to a rule change: henceforth, Israel's Eurovision representative would be determined by the winner of the Hebrew Song and Chorus Festival rather than by the Israel Broadcasting Authority.[7] She was selected for a third Eurovision appearance in 1984 with "Balalaika," but the Israel Broadcasting Authority withdrew the entry after the contest was scheduled to coincide with Yom HaZikaron, Israel's Memorial Day.[9]

In 1980, Ilanit appeared on the American television Christmas special Christmas In The Holy Land alongside Perry Como and Richard Chamberlain.[2] She was fluent in Hebrew and English, as well as Portuguese, Spanish, French, and some German.[2] Singer-songwriter Uzi Hitman supported her in the 1974 National Song Contest, an engagement that brought him early national prominence.[10] In 2005, Ilanit marked forty years of performing and was honored by fellow artists at a special tribute concert.[2] By 2025, her career had reached its sixtieth year, encompassing more than 600 songs and 30 albums, with the artist continuing to perform and record for audiences spanning multiple generations.[1]

Ilanit has lent her voice to public causes beyond the concert stage. In 2000, she recorded "Bone Of My Own" for the Israeli Foundation for Osteoporosis and Bone Diseases.[4] The Switzerland-based International Osteoporosis Foundation subsequently designated the recording as the official song of World Osteoporosis Day in October 2000.[4] Her Rosh Hashanah song "A Year Has Gone, a Year Has Come" has also appeared in an Israel Songs collection under the themes of Rosh Hashanah, music, Zionism, and family.[11]

Ilanit's place in Israeli cultural history rests on several distinct achievements. She performed Israel's first Eurovision entry, and her fourth-place finish remained the highest debut result by a participating country for twenty years.[7] Despite opportunities to build her career primarily in Europe, she chose to remain in Israel, a commitment recognized in 2024 when she received the Naomi Shemer memorial citation for fostering Israel-Diaspora relations through the arts.[12] Her multilingual fluency — Hebrew, English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and some German — allowed her to carry Israeli music across continents, from Brazilian television to Japanese song festivals.[2] She has described her audience as her source of strength and drive, and as of 2025 she remained an active presence in Israeli popular music.[1]

One widely circulated story holds that Ilanit wore a bulletproof vest beneath her dress when she performed at the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest, given the heightened security environment following the Munich massacre. Ilanit has explicitly stated that this claim is false.[9]