Hovav Sekulets ( he, חובב סקולץ; born 19 November 1986), known by his stage name Hovi Star ( he, חובי סטאר), is an Israeli singer. He represented

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2016 The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song " Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw. Organised by the European Broadcastin ...

with the song " Made of Stars" by

Doron Medalie Doron Medalie ( he, דורון מדלי; born 5 December 1977) is an Israeli songwriter, composer and artistic director. He co-wrote the song "Toy", which was performed by Netta Barzilai and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. Biography Doron M ...

Biography

Hovav Sekulets (aka Hovi Star) was born in Haifa. At 6, he began to audition for children's programs in Israel. During his three years of service in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

, he was a member of the IDF Band. Star is a trained hairstylist and makeup artist. He is openly gay. In April 2016, he reportedly suffered a

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...

incident in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

airport while on a tour to promote his Eurovision entry. Star said Russian border police officers tore up his passport, laughed at his attire and makeup.

Singing and media career

In 2009, he took part in season 7 of ''

Kokhav Nolad ''Kokhav Nolad'' ( he, כוכב נולד) (meaning ''A Star Is Born'') was an Israeli reality television show searching for talented new vocalists, based on the British ''Pop Idol'' model. Since its debut on Israeli Channel 2 in 2003, Kokhav Nol ...

'', the Israeli version of ''Idol'' competition broadcast from May to August 2009 as ''Hovi Star'', and finished seventh overall. In the same year Star also took part in the "Children's Song Festival" in Israel with his self-composed song "Little boy, big boy". The following year he was invited back to ''Kokhav Nolad'' to present Star Live''' - a behind-the-scenes show about the series for online platform MAKO, and also appeared as an expert guest on 'Ha Boker Shel Keshet' to comment on the participants. During this time he continued his music career with various releases such as "Playing dangerous" and "Boyfriend" before deciding to take a break from music for a year outside of Israel. On return to his homeland, Hovi released "W.S.I.L." and began touring with music groups and solo acts all over the world for the next three years, performing in many countries worldwide. As a songwriter, Star has composed for other Israeli singers such as

Liel Kolet Liel Kolet ( he, ליאל קולט;) is an Israeli singer-songwriter and a peace advocate. Biography Liel Kolet is an international singer, songwriter and a peace advocate. Born on 11 July 1989 to Jewish Israeli parents on Kibbutz Kinneret, she ...

("Red Lines"), Or Bar ("Sorry", "Glass Doll", "One Hug Too Many"), Megior Biton ("Girls' Night") and Barak Tamam ("Live"). He has also been a

voice actor Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talen ...

in a number of Hebrew dubbed versions of film releases, including: Lego, Inside Out, Lucky Duck, Frozen Fever, My First Dragon 2, Paddington Bear, Maya the Bee, Batman, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Nut Job, Geronimo Stilton, CJ The DJ, among others. In 2016, Star took part in the Israeli production of "The Little Mermaid" as the "Star of the Sea," a role written especially for him.

Eurovision song contest

In 2015, he took part in ''

HaKokhav HaBa ''HaKokhav HaBa'' ( he, הַכּוֹכָב הַבָּא, translated as "The Next Star"; formerly ''HaKokhav HaBa LaErovizion'', ''Rising Star to the Eurovision'') is an Israeli interactive reality singing competition, which was first broadcast ...

La'Eirovizion'', the selection process for choosing the Israeli representative to Eurovision Song Contest winning the show's title. He represented Israel in the

in Stockholm with the song " Made of Stars." At Eurovision, Star performed fourth in the second semifinal on May 12 and qualified to the final in seventh place. In the Grand Final on May 14, Star performed from position #7 and finished #14 overall - seventh on the professional jury voting, receiving 12 points from Germany.

Discography

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Star, Hovi 1986 births Living people 21st-century Israeli male singers Israeli pop singers Israeli male voice actors People from Kiryat Ata Jewish Israeli musicians Israeli people of Romanian-Jewish descent Israeli people of Egyptian-Jewish descent Kokhav Nolad contestants Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Israel Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2016 LGBT singers from Israel LGBT Jews Gay musicians 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people