Yardena Arazi

Arazi was born in Kibbutz Kabri in September 1951 and grew up in Haifa.[1] Her parents were Jewish immigrants from France and Germany.[3] Musician and conductor Effi Netzer recruited her into the Beit Rothschild vocal group and made her its soloist, before she entered military entertainment during the Nahal troupe’s late-1960s and early-1970s heyday.[1]

Arazi reportedly brought her enlistment forward by six months to join the Nahal troupe, where her fellow performers included Gidi Gov, Efraim Shamir, Yizhar Cohen, and Amos Tal-Shir, who later became her partner.[1][4] She became a prominent voice in the ensemble and served as its commander in a subsequent program.[4]

Before a new group of recruits arrived, Arazi and several other performers formed a temporary entertainment team.[5] She later recalled being assigned “Hofim” (“Shores”), which the team filmed near Beit HaArava.[5] The location had personal significance for her because, she said, her father, David Feinbaum, had helped establish the kibbutz.[5]

At the 1973 Israeli Song Festival, Arazi appeared in a group assembled by composer and Nahal musical director Yair Rosenblum to perform “Lil Hachanit” after Yehoram Gaon did not perform the song.[5][6] It was her first appearance after leaving the military ensemble, and she sang alongside Hanan Yovel and the recently discharged Ephraim Shamir, who had just joined Kaveret.[4][6] The group Af Ozen Gar’on provided additional vocals.[5][6]

Arazi’s post-army career included Shokolad, Menta, Mastik—“Chocolate, Mint and Bubble Gum”—whose original lineup paired her with Ruthie Holzman and Tami Azaria.[2] Leah Lupatin replaced Azaria in 1973, and the trio performed classic Israeli songs in Israel and internationally during its 1972–1978 activity.[2] Its repertoire included Naomi Shemer’s “On Rosh Hashanah,” which Shemer both wrote and composed.[2]

The trio represented Israel at Eurovision in The Hague in 1976 with “Emor Shalom” (“Say Hello”), finishing sixth.[3] Arazi later recalled that the song opened opportunities for tours in Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and South America.[5] She also said that the group received no royalties from European compilation albums that included the recording.[5]

After leaving the trio in the late 1970s, Arazi pursued a solo career.[7] In 1979 she co-hosted Eurovision in Jerusalem with Daniel Pe’er, presenting in fluent French.[7] This was the first Eurovision hosted by the Israel Broadcasting Authority, and the broadcast’s success led to European touring and German-language recordings for the Ariola record company.[3][7]

Arazi’s self-titled debut solo album appeared in 1982, produced by Eric Rudich and independently released through NTE, a production company established by her husband, Nathan Tomer.[7] Record companies had not signed her, and the album underperformed commercially.[7] Arazi later described the independent venture as financially risky: recording before the digital era involved lengthy mixing sessions, substantial studio costs, and numerous musicians.[7]

“Musica Nisheret,” which Arazi performed in the 1982 Kdam Eurovision preselection, finished second.[3] She returned with “Shiru Shir Amen” in 1983, again placing second, and “Od Nagia” in 1985, which placed third.[3] Reflecting on one of the competitions, she said: “Suddenly I realized that we’re all just children who want to dress up, selling ourselves for three minutes on television.”[8] She also co-hosted the 1987 Kdam.[3]

During work on her 1984 album “Ma Nishma,” Arazi began changing her vocal technique after experiencing strain from singing in a high register.[7] She studied with Rachel Hochman, who encouraged her to use the lower register in which Hebrew naturally sits.[7] The commercially successful album included “Habayta,” “Shuk HaCarmel,” and “Hefetz Hayim Beruach Hagoveret.”[7]

The 1984 album “Ata Li Eretz” became Arazi’s first gold album, selling more than 20,000 copies, and “Ma Nishma” also attained gold status.[7] The title song, written by Nurit Hirsch, spent two weeks at the top of the Reshet Gimel chart.[7] “Ata Li Eretz” had been commissioned by Kol Yisrael’s Reshet Gimel for Israel’s 36th Independence Day and served as the title song of Arazi’s third album; her performance was also included on the 1992 album “Nurit Hirsch.”[9]

Arazi was voted Israel’s top female singer from 1984 through 1988.[3] Her 1980s repertoire included “Shuv Batmuna,” “Yesh Venidme,” “Lo Naatzur,” “Kav Ha-Ahava,” “Agadat Ladila,” “Bati Eleha,” and “Hee Rokedet,” alongside “Ata Li Eretz” and “Habayta.”[3] The success of her mid-decade recordings accompanied her first “Singer of the Year” awards, and she later received the “Singer of the Decade” title for the 1980s.[7]

Her 1987 Hebrew-language album “Neshama Tzoyanit” (“Gypsy Soul”) featured Hebrew lyrics adapted by Ehud Manor and arrangements by Matti Caspi.[4][10] It became her most commercially successful solo album, selling more than 150,000 copies over time.[5] Arazi recalled agreeing to the project after producer and musical adviser Dov Seltzer played her music inspired by Roma traditions.[5] She recorded most of it at Triton Studios during her ninth month of pregnancy; “KshehaTz’iyuni Ohev” (“When the Gypsy Loves”), composed by Yehudit Ravitz, was recorded separately after she gave birth.[5]

In 1988, the Israel Broadcasting Authority internally selected Arazi to represent Israel at Eurovision and arranged a televised selection in which viewers chose her song.[3] Four songs were selected from hundreds of submissions, and “Ben Adam” (“Son of Man”), composed by Boris Dimshtein, won the selection.[5] Arazi performed it in Dublin, where it finished seventh.[3]

Arazi’s later albums included “Anashim Zarim” in 1992 and “Mitokh She’ahavti,” also rendered as “From Loving You,” in 1995.[3][11] After a greatest-hits collection in 1998, she took a break from recording.[3] In August 2007 she released “Od Nagia 2007,” her first CD in nearly a decade, featuring Dor Dekel’s remix of her 1985 song “Od Nagia.”[3]

From 1997 to 2005, Arazi co-hosted Channel Two’s morning chat show “Cafe Telad.”[3] Her television work also included hosting other programs and state events, alongside frequent song-festival appearances.[3][12] She worked as a spokesperson for Bank Leumi, while her performing career extended to films and theatrical productions.[3][11] Arazi and her husband, engineer Natan Tomer, have a daughter; a 2023 profile identified Tomer as her professional manager.[3][13]

By 2023, Arazi’s videos had received 5.5 million views on TikTok, including one that became a trend.[13] She said children sometimes stopped her to ask, “Is that you from TikTok?”, and credited this exposure with helping her remain relevant.[13] She also questioned why radio devoted less attention to songs that had attracted large online audiences.[13]

A 2026 retrospective counted 24 solo albums and five albums with Shokolad, Menta, Mastik in Arazi’s discography.[1] She had also reunited with Holzman and Lupatin for performances in recent years.[1]

Arazi received the David’s Violin award as well as the “Singer of the Decade” title for the 1980s.[11] A 2021 Jerusalem Post account reported that Haifa had named a street in her honor and that Bar-Ilan University’s Brookdale Program had presented her with a Lifetime Achievement award recognizing her contribution to Hebrew song and the performing arts across five decades.[12] In that account, university representative Yaniv Goldberg characterized her as an Israeli cultural icon.[12]

A retrospective exhibition about Arazi’s life and career was held at Beit Meirov in Holon in 2023.[13] Arazi said she had previously declined exhibition proposals because she feared the emphasis would fall on dresses and jewelry rather than music.[13] While assembling material, she rediscovered her original acceptance letter to the Nahal troupe and described receiving it as the most significant event of her life.[13]

“Habayta,” written by Ehud Manor with music by Yair Klinger, became a prominent connection between Arazi’s music and national public life.[7] Originally performed as a protest song during the First Lebanon War, it later became associated with campaigns for the return of Israeli hostages.[1] In 2024, Arazi was announced as a recipient of a lifetime achievement Medal of Distinction; she was also visiting wounded fighters and assisting families of Israelis abducted by Hamas.[14]

Arazi later said that a counting error had affected the 1983 Eurovision preselection: in her account, one jury awarded her eight points rather than ten, and broadcaster Rafi Ginat subsequently acknowledged the mistake.[5] She said the corrected total would have placed her one point ahead of Ofra Haza, but that she had no intention of contesting the result and considered Haza’s winning performance excellent.[5]

Arazi described her performances for soldiers in Lebanon during the First Lebanon War as traumatic and said they influenced her subsequent search for lyrics with reflection or a meaningful statement.[7] In a retrospective account, she recalled a roadside bomb exploding a few meters ahead of her convoy after it stopped for a performer to change seats, and a separate visit to a villa that proved to be booby-trapped.[5] She said she told Manor about these experiences and understood the resulting “Habayta” as a call to withdraw from Lebanon.[5]

In October 2017, while women were publicly sharing experiences of workplace sexual harassment, Arazi recalled an incident involving a much older, influential man early in her career.[15] She said: “I immediately understood the price of saying no: a serious blow to my nascent career.”[15] The published account did not identify the man or provide further details.[15]

In April 2025, Arazi withdrew from the Independence Day torch-bearing ceremony at Mount Herzl after initially accepting an invitation.[16] She expressed pain over the country’s daily realities and hoped for more united days when statehood would again be a leading value in public life.[16] Her message also called for the return of the remaining hostages in Gaza.[16]