Shmulik Kraus was an Israeli singer, songwriter, and actor. In the sixties, he and his then-wife, Josie Katz, along with Arik Einstein started The High Windows folk rock trio. And whilst the group only ever released the one album, virtually each and every track on it, including You Can’t (‘einech yechola’), Ezekiel (‘yehezkel’), and The Whole Week for you (‘kol hashavua lach’), became staples of Israeli music, to this day. After the trio had broken up, Kraus continued writing and composing songs for Einstein and a host of other musicians, including the hits When you Cry, you’re not Pretty (‘ksheat bocha at lo yafa’), Off the Dwarves Ran (‘atzu ratzu gamadim’), What About me (‘ma iti’), and Ballad for a Kibbutz Leaver (‘balada leozev kibuutz’). From the 1970s onwards until his passing, Kraus never stopped writing and composing a nonstop string of hits for others, including Arik Lavie’s It Happens (‘ze kore’), and The Good The Bad and the Girl’s I’m Happy Singing to the World (‘tov lashir li laolam’). Kraus, at the same time, was also enjoying a successful solo singing career, with his own hits including Board and Chalk (‘luach ve’gir’), Seeing Far Seeing Transparently (‘roim rachok roim shakuf’), If (‘im’), and Again (‘shoov’), feat. Josie Katz.
Alongside his singer-songwriter musical body of work, Kraus was also a regular on a string of motion pictures. Highlights of his credits include Fortuna (aka ‘Seduced in Sodom’) (Menahem Golan, 1966), 999 Aliza: The Policeman (Menahem Golan, 1966), Iris (David Greenberg, 1968), Adam (Yona Day, 1973), Rockinghorse (Yaky Yosha, 1978), and Fellow Travellers (Judd Ne’eman, 1984).
