Rami Fortis

Rami Fortis was born in 1954 in Tel Aviv

Rami Fortis was born on 7 July 1954. His family is of Italian-Jewish and Iraqi-Jewish origin, and his father Binyamin headed the culture department of the Tel Aviv municipality. As a child he lived with his grandmother in a transit camp.

He joined the IDF in 1972 and served in the Air Defense Command in Sinai, including during the Yom Kippur War. What he saw at the front later shaped his writing.

He started in music in 1975 as a stage worker for the band Tamuz, which sometimes let him sing. His debut album Plonter came out in 1978 and sold few copies, but later gained wide recognition. The media called him The Madman because of his wild style.

In 1984 he joined Minimal Compact in Europe as a guitarist and toured with the band in Europe and Japan. After returning to Israel he released Sipurim Mehakufsa with Berry Sakharof in 1988, which sold tens of thousands of copies.

He later led the band Fortis Brothers, which released albums in 1994 and 1996. Fortisakharof reformed in 2004, and in 2011 he released The Friend I. He also served as a judge on the first season of The X Factor Israel.