Amir Benayoun

Amir Benayoun was born in 1975 in Beersheba

Amir Benayoun was born on August 30, 1975, in Beersheba. His parents were immigrants, and his father played the oud. He took an interest in music at a young age and played with his father and brother.

As a young man he was addicted to drugs. He joined the IDF but was released after a short time because of drug problems. He worked in home repair jobs and used his savings to help fund his first album.

His first album, "Rak Ath," came out in 1999 and sold 40,000 copies. His third album, "Shalechet," released in 2002, brought him into the mainstream of Israeli music. He also wrote and composed songs for other artists, including Gidi Gov, Gali Atari and Yehoram Gaon.

He won an ACUM prize for the song "Nitzacht Iti Hakol," but declined it and donated it, and then took a break from performing. He returned in 2006 as an independent artist. In 2011 he made an Arabic album, "Zini," in support of the people in the Syrian uprising.

In 2014 President Reuven Rivlin canceled his planned performance at the president's residence after he released a song about a terror attack on a Jerusalem synagogue. Benayoun was not investigated. He married poet Miryam Golan in 2005, and they have 2 children; they divorced in 2018.