Shlomo Artzi - Musical Career

Musical Career

In 1975 he was selected to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest. The selected song was At Va'Ani (You and Me), written by the legendary Israeli songwriter Ehud Manor, and composed by Artzi himself. To seize the moment, Artzi's record label pressured him to record a completely new record in less than 2 weeks. However, At Va'Ani didn't win the contest, and the album was a big disappointment.

This marked the beginning of the worst era of Artzi's career. During the next several years, Artzi released several records that failed to sell well, and produced very few hit singles. Later, most of these albums would become rare collectibles, as they were never released again. These include, among others, Miskhakey 26, Shlomo Artzi Shar U'Mesaper Al Ian HaGamad, Yesh Li Isha Yalda Ve'Lambreta Ve'Ani Gar Be'Tel-Aviv, Romansa U'Piyut, and a selection of his best songs from the period 1970–1973, which was released in 1976.

In 1977, almost ready to give up on a singing career, Artzi wished to record one last album "the way a record should be made", and was allowed to do so by the record company. He recorded He Lost His Way, a sort of last good-bye to the business. Nevertheless, the album was a big success and revived Artzi's career, which from this moment on would rise, and keep rising, to unprecedented heights in the Israeli music industry.

In 1979 he recorded Drachim (Ways), with a fresher style. His 1981 LP Chatzot (Midnight) was the second part of Drachim.

In 1980 Artzi started his own radio show on Israel's Army Radio, Galey Tsahal. In this show, he talked about the week's headlines and tells interesting stories he has heard or seen during the week. Od Lo Shabat (It isn't Saturday yet) is still broadcast every Friday at 13:10 local time.

His records Tirkod (Dance, 1984), "Layla Lo Shaket" (Restless Night, 1986), and Hom Yuli August (July August Heat, 1988), are milestones of Israeli 1980s songwriting. The albums sold in excess of a hundred thousand copies, an unprecedented achievement in the Israeli music industry, and the live shows that accompanied the albums would sell out even the largest parks and theatres in Israel.

In 1992 Artzi released Yareakh (Hebrew: ירח‎, Moon), one of his most successful albums. Out of twelve songs on it, eight became radio hits and finally solidified Artzi's status in Israeli popular music.

In 1995 popular Israeli musicians recorded together a CD in memory of Yitzhak Rabin, named Shalom Chaver. Shlomo Artzi played two songs during the memorial service, which later became anthems of those days – Haish Ha'hu (That Man) and Uf Gozal (Fly Little One), which was originally written and recorded by Arik Einstein and Miki Gavrielov.

In 1996 he released an album called Shnayim (Two), which has sold 160,000 copies (4x platinum). The most notable songs in this CD were the title track, sung with Israeli singer Rita, "Menagev Lach Et Hadmaot" (Wiping Your Tears) and "Ze Ma Shenish'ar" (That's All That Is Left). Containing his best love songs, Artzi released Ahavtihem (I Have Loved Them) four years later. His album Tzima'on (Thirst), which was released in 2002, sold 150,000 and is one of Israel's bestsellers.

At the end of 2006 Shlomo Artzi announced his new album Shfuim, to be released in the spring of 2007. A new single from this album, "HaAmiti", became available during the first days of January, 2007.

In 2007, the most anticipated album in the Israel's music industry was Artzi's next album "Shfuim" (Sane). The album came out in July, with an already hit single "HaAmiti" (The Real) and the new hit single "Island" (Iceland). Featuring a collaboration with the Israeli rapper Mook E. of Shabak Samech fame, the album became a hit selling over 150,000 copies and another hit single "Nitzmadnu" (We Got Closer).