Ofra Haza (1957-2000) was an Israeli singer and actress. Haza’s musical career began in the 1970s and with time, she became one of the country’s most beloved singers – her string of hit singles all shot to the top of the charts and she was named Singer of the Year a total of four times in a row. Haza also enjoyed huge international acclaim, with her albums selling millions of copies worldwide.
In 1983, Haza came in third at the Eurovision Song Contest with her entry, Chai (‘alive’). Then, in the second half of the 1980s, following her immensely popular Eurovision performance and her 1984 album, Yemenite Songs’ (‘shirei teiman’) international success, Haza was finally able to break into the European and US markets. Her song, Im Nin’alu shot to the top of the German charts in 1988 where she was also named Female Vocalist of the Year. The single sold over three million copies. In the 1990s, Haza carried on recording and performing in Israel and around the world with tremendous success. Alongside her musical career, she was also an in-demand film and television actress. Israeli TV viewers will remember her from her numerous guest star appearances on the classic children’s programme, Parpar Nechmad (‘nice butterfly’). Highlights of her film acting credits include The Hit (Assi Dayan, 1979), West Side Girl (George Obadiah, 1979), and the animated film Prince of Egypt (Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner, and Simon Wells, 1998) where Haza lent her voice to the character of Yocheved and also contributed the hit song, Deliver Us (‘Hoshia na’) to the film soundtrack which she went on to record in 18 different languages.
Haza passed away in 2000 at the age of 42 from HIV/AIDS-related complications. In 2020, Ofra, a biographical documentary series (Dalia Mevorach, Dani Dotan, and Ron Goldman) aired on Israeli television, chronicling her life and the circumstances around her death.