Ninet Tayeb
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Ninet Tayeb (Hebrew: נינט טייב, also known just as Ninet or Nina) (born October 21, 1983, in Kiryat Gat, Israel) is an Israeli-pop rock singer and actress who came to fame as the first winner of Kochav Nolad (the Israeli version of Pop Idol). She is currently performing after the release of her second album, and stars in the Israeli version of Spring Awakening.
Background
She is Moroccan Sephardic Jewish origin, the third of five children to her parents. She was raised in Kiryat Gat, where she started to sing in the local youth center. Because of her humble background, she was tagged a Cinderella story. She's nicknamed Nina by her friends and family.
Kokhav Nolad
During her IDF service she auditioned to the first season of "Lo Nafsik Lashir - Kokhav Nolad, then still a format under development. Much earlier to her win, Israeli media embraced the Cinderella of the show and crowned her the star. The audience did not disagree - Tayeb was in the lead all throughout the season and eventually won the competition with almost half of the votes. Her winning performance was an emotional rendition of Zohar Argov's classic Mizrahi song "Yam Shel Dma'ot" (A Sea of Tears). At the semi final she sang a song by Hayehudim, bringing the rock band to the front for the first time in their career. She is the contestant with the longest-lasting and largest popularity after the show.
Traditionally she gets invited to the grand finale of the show every year ever since and is introduced as the number one winner of the show.
Acting career
After winning Kokhav Nolad, Ninet quickly became one of the most popular and most famous people in Israel. Teddy productions, who produces Kokhav Nolad, aware of the unprecedented love of the audience to Ninet, created a daily drama with Ninet as the star as a fictional version of herself. The show, "Our Song", which was loosely based on Tayeb's life, became a hit and ran through 4 seasons, with Ninet starring as Ninet Levi for two seasons, and as herself for the remaining two. In 2009 the movie "Kirot", a thriller directed by Dani Lerner, was released to theaters with Ninet in the lead as a beaten woman avenging her abusing husband.
Albums
Barefoot
Three years after winning the Israeli Kokhav Nolad reality show, Ninet finally started to work on her first album, Barefoot (Yechefa, Hebrew: יחפה). The album was produced by the Israeli rock singer Aviv Geffen, who Ninet admired in her teen years; it was mainly composed, written and adapted by him. The album was released on September 7, 2006, and was later certified gold, selling more than 20,000 copies. The cover image was produced by Helicon.
1. Barefoot
"Yehefa" / יחפה
2. When You Are Here
[Released as first single on July]
"KsheAta Kan" / כשאתה כאן
3. Anything Might Happen
[Released as second single on August]
"HaKol Yakhol Likrot" / הכול יכול לקרות
4. Days of Forgiveness
"Yamim Shel Sliha" / ימים של סליחה
5. If You Come
[Released as fourth single on December]
"Im Tavo" / אם תבוא
6. Longing (Are the Children of Loneliness)
"Ga'agu'im (Hem HaYeladim Shel HaBdidut)" / געגועים הם הילדים של הבדידות
7. Good to Die In the Name of Love
"Tov Lamut BeAd HaAhava" / טוב למות בעד האהבה
8. She Knows
[Released as third single on November & first video clip, see this section]
"Hi Yoda'at" / היא יודעת
9. After All
"Aharei HaKol" / אחרי הכול
10. How Does It Feel When It's Over
"Eikh Margishim KsheZe Nigmar" / איך מרגישים כשזה נגמר
11. Knew You'd Be Back
"Yadati SheTahzor" / ידעתי שתחזור
12. Puppet
"Buba" / בובה
Songs 1-4 (including the first two singles) & 6, 10 & 12- were all written, composed and adapted by Aviv. Song 5, the fourth single, was written by Eli Moreno, composed by Ilay Bottner & adapted by Idan Raichel and Gil'ad Shmu'eli. Song 7 was written and composed by Erez Al'Grebli, and adapted by him and Tomer Mazmer. Song 8, the third single (and first video clip) was written by Ninet, composed by her and Ilay Bottner, and adapted by Aviv. Song 9 was written by Barak Pheldman, composed and adapted by Yonni Bloch. Song 11 was written by Ninet and Aviv, composed & adapted by him.
Communicative
On November 17, 2009 Tayeb released her second album, Communicativi (communicative). Tayeb wrote all the lyrics in the album, composed most of it, and produced and arranged the album with Rockfour. The album was praised by the critics as brave and exciting, mostly for the major shift in Tayeb's image from "the national sweetheart" of Israel to a darker image of a rocker. The album introduces Tayeb's new musical influences from the rock genre such as Jeff Buckley, P.J. Harvey, etc. This album is by far less commercial than her debut and none of the singles that have been released became hits, although Tayeb's status as Israel's most famous person in entertainment remains strong, thus making "Communicativi" one of the most talked about albums of recent years.
Track Listing:
1. אם אני אלך / If I Leave
2. מדברים / Talking
3. כלה / Bride
4. עבדים / Slaves
5. שלווה / Serenity
6. אולי בחגים / Maybe During The Holidays
7. כך היה תמיד / It's Always Been Like This
8. פרח / Flower
9. כדור פורח / Balloon
10. כלב / Dog
11. יקינטון / Hyacinth
12. בשקט הזה / In This Silence
13. שני מעברים / Two Passages
Personal life
Tayeb began dating her Hashir Shelanu co-star (and on screen lover) Ran Danker in 2004. Their on screen and off screen romance was the source of unprecedented media and public interest. Soon after their break up in early 2006, rumors arose speculating that their break up was the result of an affair between Tayeb and her co worker on Hashir Shelanu Efrat Boimvald's boyfriend - actor Yehuda Levi. The two supposedly met while working on the children show production Shir Nolad in 2006. Ironically, Danker and Boimvald were working together at the same time for the competitors - the Festigal production. After Levi ended his relationship with Boimvald after 7 years of dating, a media frenzy occurred. Tayeb and Levi denied the rumors, although they were spotted together on several occasions. After 5 months of hiding, Tayeb confirmed the new romance in an interview stating that the two are in love. In 2009, Levi confessed in an interview that their romance began while they were both dating other people, while working in Shir Nolad. The couple are living together in Tel Aviv.
Awards and nominations
- Sounds and Voices - IBA - First Place, 2001.
- The Next King (המלך הבא) - Third place, 2002.
- Kokhav Nolad - First place, 2003.
- Golden Screen Awards - won Best Actress In A Daily Drama, 2005.
- Pnai Plus Magazine - The Beautiful Right People project - First place, 2005.
- Shir Nolad - First place, 2006.
- Children's Chosen People (The Children's Channel) - Favorite Actress, 2006.
- The Israeli Music Channel Awards - won Singer Of The Year award, 2007.
- Children's Chosen People (The Children's Channel) - Favorite Singer, 2007.
- Jerusalem Radio - Singer Of The Year, 2007.
- People Of The Year - nominated for Person Of The Year In Musics in 2006 and 2009.
- Song of The Decade project (Channel 24 and Galgalatz) - Singer of the decade nomination.
- MTV Europe Music Awards - Won Israel's favorite act, 2009.
Other projects
In 2004 Tayeb recorded a song called "Like Everybody" with comedian Eli Finish for the charity television broadcast "Yomtov".
In 2008 Tayeb took part in the documentary TV series "Once In A Lifetime" for which she flew to Jamaica with musician Ben Artzi, where they recorded a reggae track together with local musicians.
In memorial of Ofra Haza she recorded, along with Ivri Lider, a pop rock version of Haza's song "This Pain". The duet became a hit in Israel in 2007.
In the annual musical project "Hebrew Labor" of 2008 (new versions of Israeli classics), she recorded Ilan Virtzberg's song to late poet Yona Wallach lyrics, "I Couldn't Do Anything With This". The song was the first public presentation of "the new Ninet", as it introduced an alternative rock direction in Tayeb's career.
Tayeb took part in the annual children's song contest Festigal as a guest performer (not performing on Saturdays due to religious reasons) in 2004. In 2006 she participated in the children's production Shir Nolad - a cover versions competition of classical children's songs, which she won with a cover version of the classic "Mother". It was during that time when she met future life partner Yehuda Levi. She competed in the renewed Children's Song Festival in 2008 with the song "Layla" (Nighty Night) which she wrote and composed herself. The song featured, once again, alternative influences in the melody and her singing.
Tayeb was invited to perform in tribute concerts for Meir Ariel, Inbal Perlmutter, Elliott Smith and Jeff Buckley. The latter is the object of Tayeb's admiration. After meeting with Buckley's guitarist and song writer Gary Lucas, Lucas invited Tayeb to record a song which he co-wrote with Buckley but was never recorded.
In 2009 she performed in the renewed Arad Festival. It was the first time Tayeb performed her new material to a large audience. The reaction was unpleasant: Tayeb was booed off stage and refused an anchor, which not much to anyone's surprise caused a bit of a media frenzy. Weeks later in a television interview about the Arad incident she stated: "It was painful, but it's the audience's prerogative".
Tayeb recorded the Hebrew soundtrack for the movie Mary Poppins. She was chosen by Walt Disney Company to record the Hebrew soundtrack for the movie The Princess And The Frog.
In 2010 Tayeb was chosen for the role of Wendla in Israeli production of the musical Spring Awakening at "Beit Lessin" Theatre.
Tayeb is currently recording her international album in Europe.
Image
Although her popularity after her win in Kokhav Nolad is considered unprecedented in Israel,Tayeb has been considered controversial for some time, especially since she shifted from "Israel's sweetheart" to a dark rocker. She is considered by professionals one of the most talented singers to ever be discovered in Israel. The dispute is however on her relationship with tabloids and paparazzi, with which she seems to have a weird symbiosis. Her critics claim she is too commercial to be taken seriously as a musician and that her popularity is fictional as she cannot seem to succeed commercially with her concerts and albums. One of the most controversial acts of Tayeb was shaving her head bald for a TV commercial, for which she reportedly got paid more than 1,000,000 NIS. Her popularity with the Israeli audience seems to change often, while her status as the most famous and most talked about person in Israel remains stable.
External links
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