Izhar Cohen



Izhar Cohen (יזהר כהן; born March 13, 1951) is an Israeli singer who won the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest.

Personal life
Cohen was born in Tel Aviv and raised in Giv'atayim in a Yemeni singers' family – Shlomo Cohen (the Great Soliman), Sarah Cohen, and Hofni, Pini, and Vardina Cohen.

Career
Cohen started to sing when he was a young child and joined his father in his performances. At 18, Cohen joined the IDF's "Nachal" singers group. During the 1970s Cohen was one of the most played singers in Israel. Representing Israel, he won the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest with the group Alphabeta performing "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" with music by Nurit Hirsh and words by Ehud Manor. The title of the song is the Hebrew word "ani" (first person singular pronoun) expressed in the popular children language game "Bet language" (equivalent to "Pig Latin").

Cohen later represented Israel again (this time with an unnamed group of backing singers) at the 1985 contest performing "Olé, Olé" (music – Kobi Oshrat, words – Hamutal Ben-Ze'ev) where he finished 5th. He attempted to represent Israel again in 1987 and 1996 but did not win the national final.

Cohen was an actor in the Haifa Theater, and today he is an owner of a jewelry shop.