Dan Toren (1960-2024) was a dearly beloved singer, actor, lyricist, and TV presenter. He began writing original songs in the ‘80s that very quickly got the attention of some of Israel’s biggest rock and indie names of the time. Eighties indie queen Sharon Lifshitz went on to release two of Toren’s songs, ‘Gidi’ and ‘Kolnoa’ [‘cinema’] that remain her most enduring hits to this day. In 1988, Toren released his debut album, Urban Warfare and soon thereafter started the short-lived indie band, Shunra, whose only studio album On All Four (1989), featured the hit single ‘White on White’ [‘lavan al lavan’] – another one of Toren’s original compositions.
Next, in 1990 Toren joined indie-rockers, Balagan [‘mess’], and went on to write the vast majority of songs on the band’s one-and-done album, Urban Heaven [‘gan eden ironi’]. In 1996, he released his third studio album, Going Low [‘Yored Namuch’], that featured the hit single ‘Empires Fall Slowly.’ In 1998, he joined forces with indie rock grandee Maor Cohen, and Oren Kaplan and together, started the rock group The Flies [‘Hazvuvim’]. Here too, Toren wrote the majority of songs on the band’s only studio album, Bzzz…. Highlights of Toren’s other solo albums include Wind Dogs [‘Kalbey Ruach’] (1997), Under the Radar [‘Mitachat Laradar’] (2011), Captain Denimo & The Deck Boys (2013), and Between Sun and Moon (2020).
In film, Toren quickly rose to fame in the early 1980s, appearing in the likes of An Intimate Story (Nadav Levitan, 1981), Final Exams (Assi Dayan, 1983), and Atalia (Akiva Tevet & Tzvika Kertzner, 1984), that made him a household name and one of the most instantly recognisable faces of the decade in Israeli cinema. Highlights of his other film acting credits include: Batito on the Dole [‘Ha-muvtal Batito’] (Ze’ev Revach, 1987), Photo Roman (Assi Dayan & Tal Ron, 1987), One of Us (Uri Barbash, 1989), Lend me your Wife (Ze’ev Revach, 1989), Year Zero (Joseph Pitchhadze, 2004), and The Kindergarten Teacher (Nadav Lapid, 2014).
In 2016, documentary filmmaker and musician Yaron Amitai made the film As Long as it’s Rolling – A Journey Through Dan Toren’s Musical Life.
Toren was a founding member of Israeli cable TV’s Children’s Channel when it launched in the early nineties, revolutionising the local television landscape, and was part of the core ensemble cast of presenters from 1991-1994. Highlights of his television credits include: Zehu Ze [‘that’s it’] where he had his own segment titled ‘On the Bleachers’, Big Head [‘Rosh Gadol’], The Saturday Morning Murder, and The Game of Life [‘Mishak Hahayim’].
Toren also appeared in a variety of stage productions at the Cameri, Beit Lessin, and Habima National theatres. Highlights of his stage credits include: Allah Karim, Breaking the Code, Bunker, and Sanger.
Toren was the son of actor and director Ilan Toren.
