Yonatan Zigelboum (born November 4, 1991), known by the stage name Yoni Z, is a recording artist and songwriter from

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York, United States.

Early life

Zigelboum was born and raised in

Crown Heights, Brooklyn Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. Crown Heights is bounded by Washington Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue (New York City), Atlantic Avenue to the north, ...

and currently resides in

Suffern, New York Suffern is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village that was incorporated in 1796 in the town of Ramapo, New York, Ramapo in Rockland County, New York. Located adjacent to the town of Mahwah, New Jersey, Suffern is located 31 miles ...

. Zigelboum's father is of

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

ancestry, descending from Jews exiled in Eastern Europe. Yoni's mother's family is

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 ...

, descending from Jews who remained in the Middle East. His father and his maternal grandfather were both cantors. Zigelboum also has family members who survived

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

Career

In October 2018, Zigelboum was chosen as Israel's Kikar HaShabbat's Best New Artist of the Year and Music Video of the Year for the Israeli video ''UP''. He has performed singing the national anthem at a

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...

game in 2014, a Brooklyn Jewish Heritage Night performance hosted by the

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), ...

in December 2015, and a Miami Heat Jewish Heritage Night half-time concert in December 2016. In August 2018, Yoni released the music video “AYO/Kadima,” setting a record for the number of music videos released from one Jewish album. He also performed at the first-ever

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

n Passover program in

Montego Bay Montego Bay () is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth most populous urban area in the country, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore ...

in 2018.

Music videos

Zigelboum released music videos before his debut album. The video for ''Ma Naaseh'' was shot in the snow in the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...

of Romania. The

Eilat Mountains The Eilat Mountains ( ''Harei Eilat'') are a mountain range within the southern Negev in southern Israel. The ranges of the Timna Valley belong to the Eilat Mountains. Among the central block of mountains, Mount Hezekiah is the highest, followed ...

of Israel were chosen as the location for the video of ''AYO/Kadima.'' The animated video for ''UP,'' created by a team of fifteen people, uses a child-friendly approach to convey its message.

Albums

On July 26, 2018, Zigelboum released his debut album, consisting of 14 original songs. He participated in the songwriting and production of all album tracks. The album has been called "revolutionary" for

Jewish music Jewish music is the music and melodies of the Jewish people. There exist both traditions of religious music, as sung at the synagogue and in domestic prayers, and of secular music, such as klezmer. While some elements of Jewish music may origina ...

. The album sold out during the

pre-order A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to r ...

, and immediately went into a second production. He released music videos for four of the album tracks.

Discography

*''Yoni Z'' (2018) *''Ahava'' (2022)

Personal life

In April 2025, at age 33, Zigelboum married Ashley Eden of

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

References

External links

Track List for album, ''Yoni Z''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yoni Z 1991 births Living people Jewish American musicians Hasidic singers Jewish songwriters Orthodox pop musicians