Biography
Esther Zaied was born in Safed to a Syrian Jewish family. In 1959, she met Abi Ofarim, a guitarist and dancer, whom she later married. She began performing as a child, singing Hebrew and international folk songs.
In 1960 Esther landed a small role in the film Exodus. In 1961 she won the Song Festival in Tel Aviv, where she sang "Saëni Imchá Bemachol" (Dance with Me) and "Naamah". Two years later, she won second place in the Eurovision Song Contest with "T'en vas pas," representing Switzerland.
From then on, her duo with Abi Ofarim took off. In 1966 they had their first hit in Germany with "Noch einen Tanz." Their greatest success in Germany was in 1967 with "Morning of my Life", which was written by the Bee Gees. In 1968 "Cinderella Rockefella" hit the top of the charts in a number of countries including the UK. They played many live concerts in New York and London, and in 1969 they toured around the world.
The couple divorced in Germany 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 "Frühling" and "Unter deinen weissen Sternen". Ofarim's songs were featured in the 2004 Israeli film, Walk on Water.
Read more about this topic: Esther Ofarim
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