Esther Ofarim

Esther Ofarim was born Esther Zaied on June 13, 1941 in Nazareth. In 1959 she met Abi Ofarim; they married and began to sing Hebrew and international folksongs.

In 1960 Esther got a small role in the super-film "Exodus".
In 1961 Esther won at the Song Festival in Tel Aviv, where she sang "Saeni imcha bemachol" and "Neama".
1963 Esther made the 2nd place at the Grand Prix Eurovision Song Contest with "T'en vas pas".
From then on, their career began:
Esther sang, with Abi on guitar and his backing vocals.
In 1966 they had their first hit in Germany with "Noch einen Tanz". Their greatest Success in Germany was "Morning of my life" in 1967, which was written by the Bee Gees.
In 1968 the Ofarims had their international breakthrough with "Cinderella Rockefella[?]"
From then on, they played many live concerts in New York and London.
In 1969 they toured around the world. 
Then their domestic and business crisis began.
They divorced in 1970.

Esther started her solo career with several albums and concerts. 
In 1984 she played in Joshua Sobol[?]'s piece "Ghetto", produced by Peter Zadek[?] in Berlin (Germany). There she sang some songs, including "Fruehling" and "Unter Deinen weissen Sternen", which she sang with her wonderful voice and charm. The play was very successful, mainly because of Esther's great presence.

Today Esther Ofarim gives several concerts every year, especially in Israel and Germany. She does annual concerts in the Hamburger Kammerspiele, where tickets are hard to get.

You can read more about her on http://www.esther-ofarim.de

Conny Drees