Yehonatan Ya'akov "Jonathan" Mergui (; born ), also known professionally by his surname Mergui (), is an Israeli singer, actor and dancer. He attained his fame following his participation on the fifth season of the Israeli reality show '' Rising Star'', where he finished second place in the competition.

Early and personal life

Mergui was born and raised 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 ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, to an Israeli family of both

Sephardi Jewish Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

and

Mizrahi Jewish Mizrahi Jews (), also known as ''Mizrahim'' () in plural and ''Mizrahi'' () in singular, and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or ''Edot HaMizrach'' (, ), are terms used in Israeli discourse to refer to a grouping of Jews, Jewish c ...

( Moroccan-Jewish and Tunisian-Jewish) descent. From 2018 to 2021 he has been in a relationship with Israeli singer-songwriter and actress

Noa Kirel Noa Kirel (born ) is an Israeli singer-songwriter, actress, model, television host, and a reality television program judge in ''Israel's Got Talent''. She has won six MTV Europe Music Awards for MTV Europe Music Award for Best Israeli Act, Best ...

. In December 2023, he began a relationship with Russian-born Israeli singer and actress Anna Zak.

Career

From 2017 to 2018 he appeared on the Israeli singing reality television show '' Rising Star''. On the "screen level", Mergui sang the song "

How Far I'll Go "How Far I'll Go" and its reprise are two musical numbers from Disney's 2016 animated musical feature film '' Moana''. It was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, with additional music and co-produced by Mark Mancina on its reprise. The song was per ...

" from the movie '' Moana'', which lifted the screen and won 88%. In February 2018 he qualified for the grand final of the series, he competed against

Chen Aharoni Chen Aharoni (; also known as Chen and also transliterated as Hen Aharoni; born in Holon, Israel on 12 April 1990) is an Israeli singer-songwriter, musician and television presenter. Career ''Kokhav Nolad'' (2007) He came into fame after taking ...

Netta Barzilai Netta Barzilai (, ; born 22 January 1993), also known mononymously as Netta, is an Israeli singer. After winning Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018#HaKokhav HaBa L'Eurovizion, the fifth season of ''HaKokhav HaBa'', she earned the right ...

and Riki Ben Ari. At the grand final event he won 205 points, trailing at second behind Netta Barzilai – with 250 points. On September 15, 2019, he released ''Ma Iyea'', his debut EP produced by Johnny Goldstein. It includes the singles "Asur" and "Hakol Shakuff".

Discography

EPs

*''Ma Iyea'' (2019) *''Lo lihiyot levad'' (2021) * ''Dark Side of The Rainbow'' (2022) *''Shadows of Blue'' (2024) *''Nobody Really Knows'' (2025)

References

2000 births Living people Singers from Tel Aviv Male actors from Tel Aviv Israeli pop singers Israeli male dancers Israeli male television actors Israeli Mizrahi Jews Israeli Sephardi Jews Israeli people of Moroccan-Jewish descent Israeli people of Tunisian-Jewish descent Jewish Israeli singers Jewish Israeli male actors Contemporary R&B singers Disco singers Synth-pop singers 21st-century Israeli male singers 21st-century Israeli male actors 21st-century Israeli Jews 21st-century Mizrahi Jews 21st-century Sephardi Jews {{Israel-singer-stub