Ahuva Ozeri (; 3 March 1948 – 13 December 2016) was an Israeli singer, songwriter and composer. She released 20 albums over her four-decade career. According to ''

The Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' (ToI) is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012 and has since become the largest English-language Jewish and Israeli news source by audience size. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist Dav ...

'', she was "a pioneer of Israeli music".

Early life

Ahuva Ozeri was born and grew up in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

's Yemenite Quarter to a Jewish family. Her father died when she was four years old; she had seven siblings.

Career

Ozeri started her career as a singer in Israel in the 1960s. Additionally, she was a songwriter and composer. She played the Bulbul tarang, an Indian musical instrument she learned from the

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitar, sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known expert of Hin ...

. She released her first album, ''Where is the Soldier?'', in 1975. The songs were about the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...

. She went on to release 19 more albums in the next four decades. Despite losing her vocal chords to cancer, she continued to release new music, including six new albums. She released the 2004 hit song ''Sticker Song'' with

Hadag Nahash Hadag Nahash ( ', ) is an Israeli hip hop and funk band, founded in 1996 in Jerusalem, which makes leftist political statements in many of its protest songs. History Hadag Nahash has been a major contributor to the Israeli hip-hop scene, and ...

. Five years later, in 2013, she released her last album, ''Maalei Demama'' (''Out of Silence'') in 2013, in which she wrote and composed songs interpreted by such artists as

Berry Sakharof Berry Sakharof (, ; born 7 July 1957) is an Israeli rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer who is popular and critically acclaimed. He is often referred to as "the prince" or "the prince of Israeli rock". Biography Sakharof was born i ...

Ehud Banai Ehud Banai (; born March 31, 1953) is an Israeli musician, songwriter, author, and a member of the prominent Banai family in Israel. Early life Ehud Banai was born in Jerusalem. His father was the actor Yaakov Banai, one of the Banai siblings. ...

, and

Chava Alberstein Chava Alberstein ( , born 8 December 1946 in Poland) is an Israeli musician, lyricist, composer, and musical arranger. She moved to Israel in 1950 and started her music career in 1964. Alberstein has released over sixty albums in Hebrew, Englis ...

. Ozeri was the recipient of an award from ACUM in 2008 in recognition of her unique contribution to Israeli music. She was "a founding mother of Mizrahi music" according to

Arutz Sheva ''Arutz Sheva'' (), also known in English as ''Israel National News'', is an Israeli media network identifying with religious Zionism. It offers online news articles in Hebrew language, Hebrew, English language, English, and Russian language, R ...

and "a pioneer of Israeli music" according to ''

''.

Uri Barbash Uri Barbash ( Hebrew: אורי ברבש; born 24 December 1946) is an Israeli film director and television director, member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. and the Israeli Academy of Film and Television. His film '' Beyond t ...

, an Israeli filmmaker, did a documentary about her.

Personal life and death

Ozeri was first diagnosed with

laryngeal cancer Laryngeal cancer is a kind of cancer that can develop in any part of the larynx (voice box). It is typically a squamous-cell carcinoma, reflecting its origin from the epithelium of the larynx. The prognosis is affected by the location of the tumo ...

in 2000, when she had surgery. In 2002, she underwent another surgery to remove a tumour. She died of cancer on December 13, 2016, at the

Sheba Medical Center Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer (), also known as Tel HaShomer Hospital, is the largest hospital in Israel, located in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan in the Tel HaShomer neighborhood, Israel. In 2025, ''Newsweek'' ranked it as ...

in Ramat Gan, Israel, aged 68. Upon her death, Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

called her "a pillar of Mediterranean music in Israel." Additionally,

Miri Regev Miriam "Miri" Regev (; born 26 May 1965) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as Minister of Transport, National Infrastructure and Road Safety. Previously she was Minister of Culture and Sport and Acting Prime Minister of Israel. Sh ...

, Israel's Culture and Sports Minister, tweeted, "the crown of a renewed Israeli culture fell today. Ahuva (meaning "beloved" in Hebrew), rest in peace. I assure you, your voice will not be silenced forever."

Yuli Edelstein } Yuli-Yoel Edelstein (, ; born 5 August 1958) is an Israeli politician who served as Minister of Health from 2020 to 2021. One of the most prominent refuseniks in the Soviet Union, he was the 16th List of Knesset speakers, Speaker of the Kness ...

, the Speaker of the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

, called her "a unique figure who blended East and West in an amazing way in her melodies and her lyrics", adding "Her dedication to her work despite the challenges is an inspiration. May her memory be for a blessing.”

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ozeri, Ahuva 1948 births 2016 deaths Singers from Tel Aviv Composers from Tel Aviv Israeli women singer-songwriters Israeli people of Yemeni-Jewish descent Israeli Mizrahi Jews World music singers Mizrahi singers Jewish Israeli singers Jewish Israeli songwriters Jewish Israeli composers Deaths from laryngeal cancer in Israel Burials at Kiryat Shaul Cemetery 20th-century Israeli women singers 21st-century Israeli women singers 20th-century Israeli women composers 21st-century Israeli women composers 20th-century Israeli singer-songwriters 21st-century Israeli singer-songwriters 20th-century Israeli Jews 21st-century Israeli Jews 20th-century Mizrahi Jews 21st-century Mizrahi Jews