Ofra Haza

Biography

Ofra Haza was an Israeli singer, actress and Grammy Award-nominee recording artist, commonly known as “The Israeli Madonna” or “Madonna of the East”. At age 12, Haza joined a local theater troupe, and manager Bezalel Aloni noticed her singing talent. He staged many of his productions around her, and later became her manager and mentor. At 19, she was Israel’s foremost pop star. Haza completed her Israeli military service in 1979. Her first album “Al Ahavot Shelanu” was released in 1980. Her first platinum album, “Chai”, released in 1983, became the biggest-selling album of her career. Her major international breakthrough came in the wake of the album “Shirei Teiman”,  which she recorded in 1984.
Ofra Haza died on February 23, 2000, at the age of 42, of AIDS-related pneumonia. While the fact that she was HIV positive is now generally known, the decision by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz to report it shortly after her death was controversial in Israel.