Maya Bouskilla

Maya Bouskilla was born in 1977 in Netanya

Maya Bouskilla was born on November 9, 1977, in Netanya, to a religious family of Moroccan descent. She is a cousin of the singer Shimon Bouskilla. As a girl she won a local children's festival, and in 1992 and 1994 she took part in a young talent contest on Israeli Educational Television.

At 18 she received an exemption from army service on religious grounds, which later drew criticism. She later said she regretted it. In April 2008 she enlisted in the IDF for a short service and was released in January 2009.

She was first signed to Helicon for 4 years without much success. In 2003 Roberto Ben-Shushan signed her after hearing her at a karaoke night, and her first single came out that November. Her debut album, Sold Out Story, followed in April 2004 and reached gold within 3 weeks.

She was named Female Artist of the Year on the annual Hebrew song chart and Singer of the Year by Channel 24. In 2006 she left Ben-Shushan, signed with Hed Arzi, and released her second album, Days of Love. She also played Margalit in Menahem Golan's film Days of Love.

In 2009 she was a contestant on the first celebrity season of the Israeli Big Brother. She was considered as a possible Israeli entry to Eurovision in 2009, 2011 and 2012.