Ofra Haza ✝

Bat-Sheva Ofra Haza (Hebrew: בת-שבע עפרה חזה; 19 November 1957 – 23 February 2000), known as Ofra Haza (עפרה חזה), was an Israeli singer, songwriter, actress, and Grammy Award-nominated recording artist commonly known in the Western world as "The Israeli Madonna", or "Madonna of the East". Her voice has been described as a "tender" mezzo-soprano. Of Mizrahi Jewish (Yemenite-Jewish) descent, Haza's music is known as a mixture of traditional Middle Eastern and commercial singing styles, fusing elements of Eastern and Western instrumentation, orchestration and dance-beat, as well as lyrics from Mizrahi and Jewish folk tales and poetry. By the late 1980s, Haza was an internationally successful artist, achieving large success in Europe and the Americas and appearing regularly on MTV. During her singing career, she earned many platinum and gold discs and her music proved highly popular in the club scene. By the 1990s, she regularly featured in movie soundtracks, such as that of Dick Tracy (1990) and famously in the Prince of Egypt (1998), plus her vocals were popularly sampled in hip hop. Her death in 2000 from an AIDS-related illness shocked the Israeli public and was the subject of much controversy in Israel. In Israel, Haza was an influential cultural figure who helped to popularize Mizrahi culture.