Gali Atari & Milk and Honey

Biography

Gali Atari & Milk and Honey were a group, formed especially for the 1979 Israeli Song Festival. A song that was rejected by the group Habibi the year before, “Hallelujah”, was chosen again and was to be sung by a new group. It was a success, as the group won the Israeli Song Festival, and after that also the Eurovision Song Contest. The song “Hallelujah” was an international hit all over Europe.
Gali Atari already had a lot of success as a solo singer before she joined the group. She had already represented Israel at other music festivals, such as the 1971 and 1976 in the World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo. In 1978, she sang “Nasich Hachalomot” in the national final for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Although they were treated as real heroes after the Eurovision Song Contest in Israel, it was hard for the group to keep the success. They had one small hit abroad, “Goodbye New York” and they released an album, but it was not a great success. After one year, Gali Atari left the group. She was replaced by Lea Lupatin, who had previously sung in Chocolate, Menta, Mastik. With the new line up, they participated in the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Serenada”. They released a new album, but still, the success didn’t return. In 1984, the group was disbanded. However, in 1989 they came together for once to sing “Ani ma’amin” in the national final for Eurovision.