Abi Ofarim (born Avraham Reichstadt; ; October 5, 1937 – May 4, 2018) was an Israeli

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

and

dancer Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

. He is better known for his work in the 1960s as half of the duo

Esther & Abi Ofarim Esther & Abi Ofarim were an Israeli musical duo active during the 1960s, consisting of husband and wife Abi Ofarim and Esther Ofarim. They enjoyed particular success in Germany. They had hits in Europe with their songs "One More Dance," "Morning ...

with his then-wife

Esther Ofarim Esther Zaied, better known by her married name Esther Ofarim (; born June 13, 1941), is an Israeli singer. She came second in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963, 1963 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "T'en va pas (Esther Ofarim song), T'en va ...

Life and career

Early life

Abi Ofarim was born Avraham Reichstadt in

Safed Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortif ...

Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...

, in what was then the British mandate of Palestine on October 5, 1937. Upon Israel's

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

in 1948, he attended

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

school and made his stage debut in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

in 1952. By the age of 17, he was arranging his own choreography, and by 18 had his own dance studio. He was then recruited to serve in the

Israeli army The Israeli Ground Forces () are the Army, ground forces of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The commander is the GOC Army Headquarters, General Officer Commanding with the rank of major general, the ''Mazi'', subordinate to the Chief of the Gen ...

during the Suez crisis and the

Sinai war The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

Esther & Abi Ofarim

In December 1958, Reichstadt married Esther Zaied. He achieved international fame performing with her as a musical duo

in the 1960s, playing the

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and singing

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

. The couple relocated to

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, then eventually to Germany. In 1966, they had their first hit in Germany with " Noch einen Tanz". Their greatest success in Germany came the next year with "

Morning of my Life Morning is either the period from sunrise to noon, or the period from midnight to noon. In the first definition it is preceded by the twilight period of dawn, and there are no exact times for when morning begins (also true of evening and n ...

", written by the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in ...

. In 1968, " Cinderella Rockefella" hit the top of the

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent t ...

in a number of countries including the UK. The duo played live concerts in New York City and London, and they toured Europe before separating in 1969.Esther Ofarim website
esther-ofarim.de; accessed 4 May 2018.

Solo career

Abi Ofarim continued performing and recording in Europe. He also worked as a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, and

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

. In 1970, Ofarim launched his own record production and music publishing company Prom Music. He also worked with

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1958 ...

in Munich. In 1972, he released an album with British singer Tom Winter. In 1975, Ofarim left Prom, selling his interest to ex-partner Yehuda Zwick. His book, ''Der Preis der wilden Jahre'' ("The Price of the Wild Years") was first published in 1982. That year, Ofarim released the album ''Much Too Much'' on RCA Records in Germany. He released an album, ''Too Much Of Something'', in 2009. Beginning in April 2014, Ofarim ran a "Jugendzentrum für Senioren" ("Youth Center for Elderly People") in Munich, a social project against poverty and solitude of the elderly, together with his organization "Kinder von Gestern e. V." ("Children of Yesterday").

Personal life

Relationships and children

Ofarim married Esther Ofarim (née Zaied) on December 11, 1958. After their divorce in 1970, he accused her of "egotism and snobbery." He dated German singer Susan Avilés and actress

Iris Berben Iris Renate Dorothea Berben (, born 12 August 1950) is a German actress. Biography Berben was born in Detmold, North Rhine-Westphalia. She grew up in Hamburg, where her parents ran a restaurant. Berben has appeared in about 150 film and televi ...

, before remarrying twice. His third marriage was to Sandra (Sandy) Reichstadt, who he divorced in 2004. Their sons,

Gil Ofarim Gil Doron Reichstadt Ofarim (born 13 August 1982) is a German singer, songwriter, and actor, also known as the lead singer of the bands Zoo Army and Acht. Early life Ofarim is the first child of Israeli musician Abi Ofarim (1937–2018) and hi ...

and Tal Ofarim, are also musicians. Gil Ofarim is the front man of the band Zoo Army.

Drug addiction and legal issues

After his

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

from Esther Ofarim, Abi Ofarim developed a

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

and

alcohol addiction Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World Hea ...

. In 1979, he was arrested for possession of narcotics and

tax evasion Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to red ...

. He spent a month in prison and a year on probation.

Health issues and death

In 2017, Abi Ofarim developed

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

. He made a recovery and was able to return to his home in Munich to celebrate his 80th birthday in October 2017. Ofarim died aged 80 in Munich after a long illness on May 4, 2018.

Discography

Albums

* 1972: Ofarim & Winter – ''Ofarim & Winter'' (

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

) * 1982: ''Much Too Much'' (

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

) * 2009: ''Too Much Of Something'' (

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

Germany)

Singles

* 1964: "Shake, Shake (Wenn Ich Dich Nicht Hätte)" (

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

) * 1971: "Zeit Ist Geld" (

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

) * 1973: Ofarim & Winter – "Slow Motion Man" (CBS) * 1973: Ofarim And Winter – "Take Me Up To Heaven" (CBS) * 1973: Ofarim & Winter – "Speak To Me" (CBS) * 1973: Ofarim & Winter – "Why Red" (CBS) * 1982: "Mama, O Mama" (RCA) * 1982: "Heartaches" (RCA) * 1989: Abi Ofarim & Sima – " In The Morning Of My Life" (

Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

) * 2007: "Mama, Oh Mama" (White Records)

Esther & Abi Ofarim

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ofarim, Avi 1937 births 2018 deaths Sephardi Jews in Mandatory Palestine 20th-century Israeli male singers German-language singers of Israel Israeli male dancers Israeli dancers Israeli expatriates in Germany Israeli military personnel Israeli guitarists RCA Records artists Sony Music artists Philips Records artists Warner Records artists Polydor Records artists CBS Records artists People from Safed