Svika Pick (, born Henryk Pick, 3 October 1949 – 14 August 2022) was an Israeli pop singer, songwriter, composer, and television personality. Pick first gained traction on a national level after playing a lead part in an Israeli version of the musical ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and ...

'', later pursuing a prolific songwriting and singing career. He later gained recognition after co-writing "

Diva Diva (, ) is the Latin word for a goddess. Diva is a name from Roman mythology, and is associated with the nouns divus, diva, which means god, goddess, and the adjective divinius, which means divine or heavenly. It has often been used to refer t ...

", which won the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest for

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 ...

. Pick was described by peers and critics as the Israeli King of Pop, and the Maestro.

Biography

Henryk (Zvi) Pick was born in

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, to

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

parents, Paulina (1930–2010) and Borys Pick. His grandfather was the head of a music school, and his uncle was a music professor. At the age of five, Pick studied classical music. In 1957, his family immigrated to Israel. Pick studied music at the Conservatory of

Ramat Gan Ramat Gan (, ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv, and is part of the Gush Dan, Gush Dan metropolitan area. It is home to a Diamond Exchange District (one of the world's major diamond exch ...

, and started to perform in local Israeli rock bands at the age of 15. Pick married Israeli songwriter Mirit Shem-Or, with whom he has a son, and two daughters; Sharona and Daniella, who have performed together as the Pick Sisters. Shem-Or wrote the lyrics for many of Pick's hits, including "Mary Lou", which was about her. After they divorced, they continued to collaborate artistically. Sharona is married to Israeli hotelier Daniel Federmann, son of businessman Michael Federmann, while Daniella is married to the American filmmaker

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...

. Pick was also in a relationship with Israeli fashion designer Shira Manor, with whom he had two sons, Tim and Neal. In the 1980s, Pick played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

for Hapoel Yehud and Hapoel Nir Ramat HaSharon. In 2018,

EL AL EL AL Israel Airlines Ltd. (), trading as EL AL (, "Upwards", "To the Skies", or "Skywards", stylized as ELAL; ) is the flag carrier of Israel. Since its inaugural flight from Geneva to Tel Aviv in September 1948, the airline has grown to serve ...

flight from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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 ...

was diverted to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

after Pick suffered a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

. He later stated that he had to go extensive rehabilitation afterwards, including relearning Hebrew and his ability to walk.

Music career

In 1972, he entered a tune for the

Shema ''Shema Yisrael'' (''Shema Israel'' or ''Sh'ma Yisrael''; , “Hear, O Israel”) is a Jewish prayer (known as the Shema) that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services. Its first verse encapsulates the monothe ...

prayer in the Chassidic Song Festival. The tune violated Jewish law by repeating lines of the prayer. Pick was one of Israel's leading pop singers in the 1970s, and was named "Israeli male singer of the year" by Kol Israel every year from 1977 to 1980. He played a lead part in the Hebrew version of the musical ''

'' in the early 1970s. In 1998 Pick wrote the song "

" with lyricist Yoav Ginai and performed by

Dana International Sharon Cohen (; born 2 February 1969), professionally known as Dana International (), is an Israeli Pop music, pop singer. She has released eight albums and three additional compilation albums. She was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest ...

, which won the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

. He also wrote songs for several other Eurovision contestants. In 2002 he reunited with Ginai to write the " Light a Candle" for Sarit Hadad, who represented Israel in Eurovision 2002. That year, Habima Theater staged a musical called ''Mary Lou'' based on Pick's old hits. In 2009, this musical was made into the television series ''Tamid Oto Chalom'' (or ''Mary Lou''), directed by

Eytan Fox Eytan Fox (; born on August 21, 1964) is an Israeli film director. Biography Eytan Fox was born in New York City. His family Aliyah, immigrated to Israel when he was two. His father, Seymour Fox, was a Conservative Judaism, Conservative rabbi an ...

. In 2003, he composed the song " Hasta la vista" with Shem-Or, to whom he was married at the time, for Oleksandr Ponomariov, Ukrainian entrant in Eurovision 2003. He also wrote a song for the

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian contestant of Eurovision 2005, Angelica Agurbash, but she later decided on a different one, acknowledging Pick for his effort. He competed seven times in the Israeli preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2010, he composed an entry for Harel Skaat for Israel, and for Sopho Nizharadze for

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Eurovision entries

Song contest

" by

, Israel, (

Eurovision Song Contest 1998 The Eurovision Song Contest 1998 was the 43rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 9 May 1998 at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster the Br ...

), 1st place *" Light a Candle" by Sarit Hadad, Israel, (

Eurovision Song Contest 2002 The Eurovision Song Contest 2002 was the 47th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tallinn, Estonia, following the country's victory at the with the song Everybody (Tanel Padar and Dave Benton song), "Everybody" by Tanel Pada ...

), 12th place *" Hasta la vista" by Oleksandr Ponomariov, Ukraine, (

Eurovision Song Contest 2003 The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 was the 48th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Riga, Latvia, following the country's victory at the with the song " I Wanna" by Marie N. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) ...

), 14th place

National selection

*"Ein li ish milvadi" by Svika Pick ( Israel 1979), 2nd place *"Romantica" by Svika Pick ( Israel 1982), 6th place *"Layla layla" by Svika Pick ( Israel 1986), 7th place *"Domino" by Svika Pick ( Israel 1987), =10th place *"Artik Kartiv" by Svika Pick ( Israel 1993), 7th place *"Moonlight" by Svika Pick ( Israel 2005), 3rd place *"Lifney SheNifradim" by Svika Pick ( Israel 2006), 4th place *"Sing My Song" by Sopho Nizharadze ( Georgia 2010)

Television career

From 2005 to 2009, Pick was one of the judges for the singing reality show ''

Kokhav Nolad ''Kokhav Nolad'' (; 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 Nolad has become popular and ...

'' (the Israeli version of ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and pa ...

'') that aired on Channel 2. In 2005, Pick starred in the docu-reality series ''HaMaestro'' that aired on Bip and followed the daily lives of him and his family. In 2009, the musical drama series ''Tamid Oto Chalom'' ("Always the same dream") aired on

HOT 3 Hot 3 (styled as HOT3; ; also available in HD as HOT3 HD) is an Israeli television channel of the cable television company HOT.Music of Israel The music of Israel is a combination of Jewish and non-Jewish music traditions that have come together over the course of a century to create a distinctive musical culture. For almost 150 years, musicians have sought original stylistic elements ...

Culture of Israel The culture of Israel is closely associated with Jewish culture and rooted in the Jewish history of the diaspora and Zionist movement. It has also been influenced by Arab culture and the history and traditions of the Arab Israeli population and ...

Television in Israel Television in Israel refers to television broadcasting services in the State of Israel, inaugurated on March 24, 1966. Initially, there was one state-owned channel, operated jointly by the Israel Broadcasting Authority and the Israeli Educational ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pick, Svika 1949 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Israeli male singers Israeli composers Israeli male stage actors Polish emigrants to Israel Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Israeli Ashkenazi Jews Eurovision Song Contest-winning songwriters People from Ramat Gan Hapoel Yehud F.C. players Hapoel Nir Ramat HaSharon F.C. players Men's association football players not categorized by position Israeli men's footballers 20th-century Israeli sportsmen