Avi Peretz (singer)

Avi Peretz (in Hebrew אבי פרץ) (born in 9 December 1966) is an Israeli singer of Jewish Mizrahi music.

Perez grew up in Bat Yam, Israel. His grandfather was a famous poet in Morocco. From a young age, he learned to play the keyboard, and began his music career at age 13. In 1992, he had his great break with "קשה לי" which became an immediate hit. Based on that success, he released his debut album "גלגל הזמן" (meaning wheel of time in Hebrew) and even a bigger hit with tens of thousands of albums sold and a big launch through Israeli radio. It also resulted in a new hit for Peretz, a cover interpretation of Natan Yonatan song "שיר אהבה ישן" (meaning old love song in Hebrew).

In 1993, he released his follow-up album, "אליך" (meaning you). The most famous single from the album was yet another cover interpretation version of the song "ערב ערב" (meaning every night in Hebrew) a song by Ari San, a Greek singer with huge popularity in Israel in 1950s and 1960s.

In 1995 came the third album "לך שרתי", an album successful due to the iconic rendition "אוריאנה" by prominent Israeli singer Rivka Zohar and "שיר של יום חולין" as a duo with Yardena Arazi.

In 1997, Peretz released the album "שלווה" (Shalom, meaning Peace), which included cover versions of songs composed by Yair Rosenblum. Successful tracks from the album included "אוריאנה" and the duet "שיר של יום חולין" as a return hit of the duet with Arazi. Other famous tracks included "היה לי חבר היה לי אח" (meaning "I had a friend I had a brother") and "מיכלי", a song written by Rosenblum's companion shortly before the artist's death.

In 1998, came a double CD collection album including his best songs with a bonus of four new songs: "בך מאוהב" (meaning your love) and "אור שבעת הימים" (light of the seven seas) as well as duet "זה הלילה" (this night) and "התחנה המרכזית", the latter with Margalit Tzan'ani (in Hebrew מרגלית צנעני). The album also contained bonus videos, and a remixed new performances of his debut hit "קשה לי".

In 2001 came the studio album "כל פעם מחדש" (meaning each time), an album that broughty the hits "שוב לשוב" (meaning back again) wrote by Yossi Gispan (in Hebrew יוסי גיספן), and a duet with singer Uriel Shlomi (in Hebrew אוריאל שלומי) called "אהובה" (meaning love) and "כל פעם מחדש", a song that won the second place in the Israel Song Festival. The distinction of this album was that unlike most previous albums, it was self-composed in nine of the ten tracks included.

Peretz in addition to being a successful Mizrahi artist has wrote songs for many artists, including Margalit Tzan'ani and Eli Luzon (in Hebrew אלי לוזון).

After a hiatus of 5 years, amidst speculations he released in 2006 his new album "קטנטנה" that has kept his popularity live.

Discography

Albums

• 1992: גלגל הזמן
• 1993: אליך
• 1995: לך שרתי
• 1997: שלווה
• 1998: האוסף הכפול
• 2001: כל פעם מחדש
• 2006: קטנטנה