Ofra Haza
Also known as Ofra Chaza, Ofra Hasa, Haza, Ofra, Bat-Sheva Ofra Haza-Ashkenazi, Bat-Sheva Ofra Haza, Bat-Sheva Haza
Israeli singer (1957–2000)
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Ofra Haza was an Israeli singer who became an international pop star in the 1980s and 1990s, known for blending traditional Middle Eastern music with contemporary pop and dance styles. Her career and early death at age 42 made her a significant figure in Israeli culture and a notable example of Middle Eastern artists achieving global commercial success.
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Person · Open Library
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female vocalistsisraeliworldIsraelhebrew
Ofra Haza (עפרה חזה) (born as Bat-Sheva Ofrah Hazah in the working class neighborhood of Hatikva, Tel Aviv, Israel on 19 November 1957 - died 23 February 2000) was an Israeli singer, songwriter and actress. Of Mizrahi Jewish (Yemenite-Jewish) descent, Haza's music is known as a mixture of traditional Middle Eastern and commercial singing styles, fusing elements of Eastern and Western instrumentation, orchestration and dance-beat, as well as lyrics from Mizrahi and Jewish folk tales and poetry.
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Ofra Haza (Hebrew: עפרה חזה; 19 November 1957 – 23 February 2000) was an Israeli singer, songwriter, and actress, commonly known in the Western world as "the Madonna of the East", or "the Israeli Madonna". Her voice has been described as a "tender" mezzo-soprano. In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked her at number 186 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.
Of Yemenite-Mizrahi descent, Haza performed music known as a mixture of traditional Middle Eastern and commercial singing styles, fusing elements of Eastern and Western instrumentation, orchestration and dance-beat, as well as lyrics from Mizrahi and Jewish folk tales and poetry. By the late 1980s, Haza was an internationally successful artist, achieving large success in Europe and the Americas and appearing regularly on MTV. During her singing career, she earned many platinum and gold discs and her music proved highly popular in the club scene. By the 1990s, at the peak of her career, she was regularly featured in movie soundtracks, such as that of Dick Tracy (1990) and famously in The Prince of Egypt (1998), and her vocals were popularly sampled in hip-hop. Her death in 2000 from an AIDS-related illness shocked Israeli society.
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1957 births2000 deaths20th-century Israeli actresses20th-century Israeli Jews20th-century Israeli journalists20th-century Israeli pianists20th-century Israeli singer-songwriters20th-century Israeli women journalists20th-century Israeli women pianists20th-century Israeli women singers20th-century Mizrahi JewsAIDS-related deaths in Israel