Lior Yeini

Lior Yeini was born in 1936 in Afikim

Yeini was born in 1936 in Kibbutz Afikim. His parents, Chaim and Pnina Yeini, came from Russia and were among the founders of the kibbutz. He finished high school at the Beit Yerah regional school in the Jordan Valley.

He served in the Golani Brigade. In 1959 he moved to Tel Aviv and studied acting with Fanny Lubitsch.

He joined the Hatarnegolim troupe in 1963 and the Hahamtzitzim troupe in 1966. In 1968 he played the lead in the musical I Like Mike, and in 1969 he starred in a show of Russian protest songs. His first album, Toda Raba, came out in 1970, and in 1972 he played the lead in the film Where Is Daniel Wax?

In the 1970s he worked with Aviva Orshalom and later moved with her to France. After 8 years he returned to Israel and worked mainly in theater, playing Javert in Les Misérables in 1987. That year he composed Casino Olami for Miki Kam, which came third in the 1987 Israeli Eurovision preselection.

In 1995 he staged a show of Vladimir Vysotsky songs in his own translation. In 2020 he took part in a project of Natan Alterman songs. He died in 2021 and was buried in Yarkon Cemetery.