Haza, Ofra

▪ 2001

      Israeli singer (b. Nov. 19, 1957, Tel Aviv, Israel—d. Feb. 23, 2000, Tel Aviv), achieved international stardom by setting traditional Jewish-Yemenite song lyrics to Western-style disco-pop arrangements. Discovered at the age of 12 by Bezalel Aloni, who became her manager, Haza recorded a number of albums that enjoyed gold and platinum sales in Israel before releasing her first international album, Yemenite Songs, in 1985. After the album topped the charts in Europe and Asia, it was released to wide acclaim in the U.S. in 1987, and Haza toured the U.S. the following year. Onstage she was energetic and colourful, often donning exotic Middle Eastern costumes for performances. She was a guest vocalist on many European and American records, including ones by Paula Abdul and Thomas Dolby. Her album Shaday won the New Music Award for International Album of the Year in 1989, and her 1992 album Kirya, on which Lou Reed and Iggy Pop made guest appearances, was nominated for a Grammy Award. In 1994 Haza gave a memorable performance at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo for Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, and Yasir Arafat. She again attracted attention in 1998 when she sang the theme song for the hit animated film The Prince of Egypt. During her career she made a total of 16 gold or platinum albums. Her death set off days of national mourning in Israel. It was later reported that Haza had died of complications from AIDS.

* * *