Shlomo Artzi

Shlomo Artzi was born in 1949 in Israel

Shlomo Artzi was born on 26 November 1949 in Alonei Abba. His parents were Holocaust survivors from Romania, and his father, Yitzhak Artzi, later served in the Knesset. His sister was the writer Nava Semel.

His family moved to Tel Aviv when he was a boy. At 12 he began playing guitar and formed a band in the scouts, and at 16 he started writing songs. With his classmate Rivka Menashe, later known as Riki Gal, he performed for soldiers as the Sinai Duo.

In the army he became lead singer of the Navy Band. In 1970, still in uniform, he won the Israel Song Festival and released his first album. In 1971 he played Yaron Zehavi in a Hasamba film and studied law, then theater, at Tel Aviv University.

He represented Israel at Eurovision in 1975 and placed 11th. After weak sales, the album "Gever Holekh Le'ibud" renewed his career, followed by albums such as "Tirkod", "Layla Lo Shaket", "Yareah" and "Shnayim". From 1980 he also hosted a radio show on Army Radio.

He released "Osher Express" in 2012 and "Katzefet" in 2016, and lit a torch at Israel's 70th Independence Day in 2018. He was chosen for the Israel Prize in 2023 but refused it over the dispute on the judicial reform. He lives in Ramat Gan and has 3 children.