Lior Attar, better known simply as Lior, is an independent Australian singer-songwriter based in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

. He is best known for his 2005 debut studio album ''Autumn Flow'' and for the song "Hoot's Lullaby".

Early life and education

Lior was born in

Rishon LeZion Rishon LeZion ( he, רִאשׁוֹן לְצִיּוֹן , ''lit.'' First to Zion, Arabic: راشون لتسيون) is a city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan ...

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 ...

and he and his family moved to Sydney when he was 10. They made their first Australian home in Lane Cove, and Lior studied at

Killara High School Killara High School is a co-educational, coeducational public secondary school, located on Koola Avenue in East Killara, Sydney. Established in 1968, Killara High School is one of the highest performing comprehensive non-selective public schools i ...

and the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

Career

2000–2007: Early EP, ''Autumn Flow'' and ''Doorways of My Mind''

In 2000, Lior released his debut extended play ''The Soul Suicide EP''. In October 2004, Lior recorded his debut studio album ''

Autumn Flow Autumn Flow is the debut studio album of Australian singer-songwriter Lior. The album was released in October 2004 and peaked at number 45 on the ARIA charts, early in 2005 and was certified gold in 2006. At the J Award of 2005, the album was n ...

''. He sent it to a number of record labels but failed to secure a deal, and released the album independently, late in 2004. In 2015, Lior recalled the first time he heard a song of his on the radio station,

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greater emphasis on broad ...

; "I'd just done the so-called tour to launch the album but it didn't have any sort of exposure or radio play, so no-one really knew what it was. I went up and down the east coast with a band and lost all my money. I was feeling really defeated and quite sorry for myself, going 'how am I going to do this', and the song ("This Old Love") came on." ''Autumn Flow'' made its ARIA chart debut in early 2005, peaking at number 45. Lior has toured with the

WOMAD WOMAD ( ; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance. History WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, w ...

festival in 2005 to the UK, Singapore and

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

. Lior also performed at the Spiegeltent throughout the world, and the

Make Poverty History Make Poverty History are organizations in a number of countries, which focus on issues relating to 8th Millennium Development Goal such as aid, trade and justice. They generally form a coalition of aid and development agencies which work togethe ...

concerts in Australia. At ARIA Music Awards of 2005, the album was nominated for three awards; Breakthrough Artist, Best Male Artist, and Best Independent Release. In 2005, the album was one of the fifteen nominees for radio station

triple j Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greater emphasis on broad ...

's inaugural

J Award The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J and which are judged by the music and on-air teams from radio stations Triple ...

, given to "an album of outstanding achievement as an Australian musical work of art – for its creativity, innovation, musicianship and contribution to Australian music. ''Autumn Flow'' was certified gold by

ARIA In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...

in 2006. In February 2006, Lior released a live album, '' Doorways of My Mind'', recorded at the Northcote Social Club. The album consisted mostly of tracks from ''

'' as well as some new material such as "Diego and the Village Girl", "Burying Chances" and "Avinu Malkeinu" (a traditional prayer). At the

ARIA Music Awards of 2006 The 20th annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAS) were held on 29 October 2006 at the Acer Arena at the Sydney Olympic Park complex. Presenters on the night includ ...

, the album was nominated for two awards; ''Best Independent Release'' and '' Best Blues and Roots Album''. Lior moved from Sydney to Melbourne in 2007.

2008–2012: ''Corner of an Endless Road'', ''Tumbling into the Dawn'' and ''Giggle and Hoot''

In February 2008, Lior released his second studio album, '' Corner of an Endless Road''. The album debuted at number 13 on the

charts. At the

ARIA Music Awards of 2008 The 22nd annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) took place on 19 October 2008. The nominees for all categories were announced on 10 September, while the winners of ...

, the album was nominated for the ''Best Independent Release''. In 2008, Lior toured extensively, both in his home country of Australia and abroad including feature performances at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh F ...

. In early 2009, he performed with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra for a series of outdoor concerts. In 2009, Lior launched the Shadows and Light Tour, a collaboration with renowned shadow artists Stephen Mushin and Anna Parry; an interactive performance combining Lior's music with live shadow art performance and featured a season at the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

. In 2009, Lior was approached by children's television show '' Giggle and Hoot'' series producer Clare Gerber, and was asked to write a song. He agreed thinking "this could be fun" and wrote "Hoot's Lullaby". The song plays nightly on ABC 2 just before 7:00pm, and marks the end of children's programming on the channel for the day. In October 2010, Lior released his third studio album ''Tumbling into the Dawn''. The album peaked at number 26 on the ARIA charts. In 2011 Lior wrote and recorded "Hey Hootabelle" for Giggle and Hoot. At the

APRA Music Awards of 2012 The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2012 (generally known as APRA Awards) are a series of related awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Art Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music Awards of 2012 was the 30t ...

, the song won the APRA Award for Best Original Song Composed for Screen.

2013–2018: ''Compassion'', ''Scattered Reflections'' and ''Between You and Me''

In September 2013, Lior and

Nigel Westlake Nigel Westlake is an Australian composer, musician and conductor. As a composer for the screen, his film credits include the feature films '' Ali's Wedding'', ''Paper Planes'', '' Miss Potter'', ''Babe'', '' Babe: Pig in the City'', '' Children o ...

premiered ''Compassion'' at the

. ''Compassion'' is an orchestral song cycle for voice and orchestra consisting of original melodies and orchestration set to ancient texts in Hebrew and Arabic, all centred around the wisdom of compassion. The performance was recorded and the album of ''

Compassion Compassion motivates people to go out of their way to relieve the physical, mental or emotional pains of others and themselves. Compassion is often regarded as being sensitive to the emotional aspects of the suffering of others. When based on n ...

'' was released in November 2013. At the

ARIA Music Awards of 2014 The 28th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) are a series of award ceremonies which include the 2014 ARIA Artisan Awards, ARIA Hall of Fame Awards, ARIA Fine ...

, it won the ARIA Award for Best Classical Album. Lior premiered ''Compassion'' in the US with the Austin Symphony Orchestra in 2016 and was subsequently awarded the Austin Table Critics' Award for Best Symphonic Performance of 2015-16 and in 2016 Lior also won the Melbourne Music Prize Civic Choice Award for ''Compassion''. In March 2014, Lior released his fourth studio album '' Scattered Reflections''. The album peaked at number 23 on the ARIA charts. In April 2015, Lior was invited as the sole Australian artist to perform at the prestigious 100 year anniversary of the landing at

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles s ...

, performing his song "Safety of Distance" with the Gallipoli choir leading in to the dawn service. In June 2015, ''Autumn Flow'' was re-released as a tenth anniversary edition. From December 2015, Lior played the part of Motel Kamzoil in ''

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on ''Tevye and his Daughters'' (or ''Tevye the ...

'' at

's Princess Theatre. In 2016, Lior worked with producer Tony Buchen to write an orchestral score for ''The Wider Earth'', a Queensland theatre production based on Charles Darwin's journey on HMS ''Beagle''. At the 2016 Matilda Theatre Awards, the music won Best Original Theatre Score. In 2016 Lior co-wrote and recorded a children's album with The Idea of North &

Elena Kats-Chernin Elena Davidovna Kats-Chernin (born 4 November 1957) is a Soviet-born Australian pianist and composer, best known for her ballet '' Wild Swans''. Early life and career Elena Kats-Chernin was born in Tashkent (now the capital of independent Uzb ...

for the HUSH Foundation. Created for the dual purpose of raising funds for the children's hospital as well as making original music to be played in the wards, the album ''A Piece of Quiet'' featured original music written to lyrics written by the children in the hospital wards and was released in October 2016. At the

ARIA Music Awards of 2017 The 31st Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) are a series of award ceremonies which include the 2017 ARIA Artisan Awards, ARIA Hall of Fame Awards, ARIA Fine ...

, the album was nominated for

ARIA Award for Best Children's Album The ARIA Music Award for Best Children's Album is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. It is handed out by the Australian Recording Ind ...

. Throughout 2018 Lior toured with Australian pianist and composer Paul Grabowsky in performing a collection of Lior's songs adapted and reinterpreted for piano and voice. In 2019 Lior featured as the guest vocalist for the Australian Chamber Orchestra's 'Luminous' tour which toured nationally in Australia as well as performances in the Barbican in London. In September 2018, Lior released his fifth studio album ''Between You and Me''. In 2018 Lior was awarded a Fellowship of the Australian Institute of Music in recognition of outstanding achievements and services to Australian music.

2019–present: Air Land Sea and ''Animal in Hiding''

In 2019, Lior formed the musical group Air Land Sea with Nadav Kahn and Tony Buchen. The group released four singles and a self-titled studio album across 2019. In 2019 Lior was awarded the Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship, an award of over two years, given to mid-career creatives and thought leaders. As part of the 2021 WOMADelaide concert series, Lior performed his symphony ''Compassion'' alongside composer

and the

Adelaide Symphony Orchestra The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is a South Australian performing arts organisation comprising 75 full-time musicians, established in 1936. Based in Adelaide, South Australia, the orchestra's primary performance venue is the Adelaide Town Ha ...

. In 2021, Lior collaborated with fellow singer-songwriter Domini Forster on ''Animal in Hiding''. Lior said "She's been my support act for awhile now, after awhile, she became the backing vocalist in my band and then leading up to my last solo album, we decided we'd have a crack at writing a song together." The EP is scheduled for released on 15 October 2021.

Philanthropy

In a 2015 interview, Lior mentioned working for the charities Cambodian Children's Trust and

Global Poverty Project Global Citizen, also known as Global Poverty Project, is an international education and advocacy organization working to catalyze the movement to end extreme poverty and promote social justice and equity through the lens of intersectionality. The ...

as well as supporting Oscar's Law.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Live albums

Other albums

Compilation albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

Awards

AIR Awards

The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as

AIR Awards The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. History The inaugural 2006 awards were held at ...

) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. , - , rowspan="2" ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

, ''Autumn Flow '' , Best Performing Independent Album , , - , himself , Independent Artist of the Year , , - , rowspan="3" ,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, rowspan="2" , ''Corner of an Endless Road '' , Best Independent Album , , - , Best Independent Blues and Roots Album , , - , himself , Best Independent Artist , , -

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions ...

. Lior has won two awards from nine nominations. , - , rowspan="3",

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

, rowspan="3", ''

'' , Best Male Artist , , - , Breakthrough Artist - Album , , - , Best Independent Release , , - , rowspan="2",

, rowspan="2", '' Doorways of My Mind'' , Best Blues & Roots Album , , - , Best Independent Release , , - ,

, ''Corner of an Endless Road'' , Best Independent Release , , - ,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

, ''

''
(with

Sydney Symphony Orchestra The Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is an Australian symphony orchestra that was initially formed in 1908. Since its opening in 1973, the Sydney Opera House has been its home concert hall. Simone Young is the orchestra's chief conductor and f ...

) ,

Best Classical Album The Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by m ...

, , - , rowspan="2",

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, '' Ali's Wedding (soundtrack)''
(with Nigel Westlake, Sydney Symphony Orchestra,

Joseph Tawadros Joseph Tawadros (born 6 October 1983) is an Egyptian-born Coptic Australian multi-instrumentalist and oud virtuoso. Tawadros has won the ARIA Award for Best World Music Album five times: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2020. and 2021. Biography His fami ...

& Slava Grigoryan) , Best Original Soundtrack or Musical Theatre Cast Album , , - , ''A Piece of Quiet (The Hush Collection, Vol 16)''
(with The Idea of North & Elena Kats-Chernin) ,

Best Children's Album The Grammy Award for Best Children's Album (from 2020: Grammy Award for Best Children's Music Album) is an honor presented since 2012 at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honor ...

APRA Awards

The APRA Awards are held in Australia and New Zealand by the

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwri ...

to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually. Lior has won one award from five nominations. , - ,

, "Daniel" , Most Performed Blues & Roots Work , , - ,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

, "Heal Me" , Most Performed Blues & Roots Work , , - , rowspan="2",

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

, "Hey Hootabelle" for '' Giggle and Hoot'', written by Lior , Best Original Song Composed for the Screen , , - , '' Hootabelle'' , Best Music for Children's Television , , - ,

, ''Compassion'' , Work of the Year – Orchestral , , -

J Award

The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owne ...

's youth-focused radio station

. They commenced in 2005. , - ,

, ''Autumn Flow'' , Australian Album of the Year ,

References

External links

Official web site
* {{Authority control Living people APRA Award winners ARIA Award winners Australian male singers Australian people of Israeli descent Israeli emigrants to Australia Israeli Jews Jewish Australian musicians Singers from Melbourne University of New South Wales alumni Year of birth missing (living people)