Ofra Haza

[ichabodius]

Ofra Haza was a highly successful Israeli pop icon whose rags-to-riches career started in 1983 when she came second in the Eurovision Song Contest. She released 16 gold and platinum albums, before dying in 2000 of an AIDS related illness.

[Jazbabee]

Never heard of her

[ichabodius]

She was sampled alot in the 80's. MARRS "Pump Up the Volume" and Coldcut's remix of Erik B. and Rakims "Paid In Full".

[Sharmika]

She was sampled alot in the 80's. MARRS "Pump Up the Volume" and Coldcut's remix of Erik B. and Rakims "Paid In Full".

You rock balls! How do you KNOW that?!?!? I can't tell you how long I've searched the 'net to figure out whose voice that was on those songs...

[Aries65]

I didn't know that either. So, she was an Indian singer?

[SueWahoo]

I didn't know that either. So, she was an Indian singer?

No, she was Israeli.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofra_Haza

[Kathyf]

Sad she was so young. very talented.

[Irishlass]

oh she sang some music from the "prince of egypt " she had a beautful voice.

[joplinfrk]

I had her album back in the day...the song "Imin Alu" was ALL over the radio back in 88/89. Good times.

[Pammijo]

Yes, I remember when she died, there was a lot of controversy around her death. Apparently she died of complications of AIDS, but rumor has it her philandering husband passed the HIV virus onto her. Who knows? I was a big fan and had quite a few of her albums. She was great.

[Hilde_Blue]

Ofra Haza (Hebrew: עפרה חזה‎, Arabic: عوفرة حازة or عفراء هزاع‎, 19 November 1957 â?? 23 February 2000) was an Israeli singer, actress and international recording artist.
Her music, inspired by her love of her Yemenite Jewish culture, fused elements of folk, dance and pop. Combined with her being able to switch between traditional and more commercial styles, she became an instant local, then national success story. Later, she found international success in Europe and the United States.


She was a mainstream international star [2]and her greatest international recognition came with the single "Im Nin'Alu", taken from the album Shaday (1988), which won the New Music Award for Best International Album of the Year. The song topped the Eurochart (Europe's equivalent to the American Billboard charts) for two weeks in June that year and was on heavy rotation on MTV channels across the continent. For years to come, this song would be extensively re-released, re-mixed and sampled, for example on Coldcut's remix of Eric B. & Rakim's "Paid in Full." The single made only a brief appearance in the UK top 40 singles chart, but became a dancefloor favorite across Europe and the USA, topping the German charts for nine weeks. Subsequent singles were also given the dance-beat / MTV-style video treatment, most notably, "Galbi", "Daw Da Hiya" and "Mata Hari", but none quite matched the runaway success of her first hit. "Im Nin' Alu" would go on to be featured on an in-game radio playlist of the video game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, released in 2005.
Haza also received critical acclaim for the albums Fifty Gates of Wisdom (1988), Desert Wind (1989), Kirya (1992), Ofra Haza (1997) and for her collection of children's songs, L'Yeladim (1982).
Kirya (co-produced by Don Was) received a Grammy nomination.
In 1994, Haza released her first Hebrew album in seven years, Kol Haneshama (The Whole Soul). Though not an initial chart success, the album produced one of her biggest hits to date, "Le'orech Hayam" (Along The Sea). The song did not have any substantial chart success upon its release to radio but became an anthem after Haza performed it on the assembly in memorial to deceased Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, a week after he was assassinated. Radio stations around the country started playing it and people took notice. Its lyrics became even more symbolic following Haza's own death in 2000.


Ofra Haza died on 23 February 2000 at the age of 42, the cause being widely reported as organ failure or pneumonia.

Although initial reports suggested that Haza was only suffering from pneumonia or an extended bout with the flu, The Jerusalem Post reports that her condition rapidly deteriorated after she entered the hospital. By the end, Haza was unconscious after suffering liver and kidney failure and was said to be receiving intravenous drug treatment. Administrators at Sheba Hospital said that Haza's heart finally stopped beating on Wednesday because of an abnormal increase in the amount of hydrogen in her body.[5]

After Haza's death was announced, Israeli radio stations played non-stop retrospectives of her music and Prime Minister Ehud Barak praised her work as a cultural emissary, commenting that she also represented the Israeli success story â?? "Ofra emerged from the Hatikvah slums to reach the peak of Israeli culture. She has left a mark on us all".
She is buried in Yarkon Cemetery, Tel Aviv, Israel.[6]

[Hilde_Blue]

Yes, I remember when she died, there was a lot of controversy around her death. Apparently she died of complications of AIDS, but rumor has it her philandering husband passed the HIV virus onto her. Who knows? I was a big fan and had quite a few of her albums. She was great.

Her husband, Doron Ashkenazi, gave her HIV/AIDS. He was a drug-abuser, who died in April 2001 of a drug overdose.

[Hilde_Blue]

OFRA HAZA

[ghoulgurl]

I had her album back in the day...the song "Imin Alu" was ALL over the radio back in 88/89. Good times.

Amen!

[Hilde_Blue]

OFRA AND HER HUSBAND(DORON ASHKENAZI) IN 1998.

[ichabodius]

OFRA AND HER HUSBAND(DORON ASHKENAZI) IN 1998.

She looks like a non lipoed un botoxed Marie osmand (less ten pounds of make-up and hairspray) and he looks like a lean tan handsome version of Brittney Murpheys husband.

[Hilde_Blue]

[ichabodius]

She was sampled alot in the 80's. MARRS "Pump Up the Volume" and Coldcut's remix of Erik B. and Rakims "Paid In Full".

She was not sampled in MARRS Pump Up The Volume that was Dunya Yunis:

Sorry for the error.