Chava Alberstein - biography

Chava Alberstein (Hebrew: חוה אלברשטיין‎, born December 8, 1947, in Szczecin, Poland) is an Israeli singer, lyricist, composer, and musical arranger.

Biography

Chava Alberstein, born in Poland, moved to Israel with her family in 1950. She grew up in Kiryat Haim. In 1964, when she was 17, she was invited to appear at the Hammam Nightclub in Jaffa. She sang four songs accompanied by herself on guitar and her brother Alex on the clarinet. The program was broadcast live on the radio. After a guest appearance on Moadon Hazemer, recorded on Kibbutz Beit Alfa, she signed a recording contract with CBS. Early in her career, she appeared at the Amami Cinema in Haifa's Neve Sha'anan neighborhood. Haaretz columnist Neri Livneh describes her as "a little slip of a thing in a blue youth movement shirt, her face covered by huge glasses." Alberstein was drafted into the Israel Defense Force in 1965, and became one of many Israeli artists to rise to stardom by entertaining the troops.

Musical career

Alberstein has released more than 60 albums. She has recorded in Hebrew, English and Yiddish. In 1980, Alberstein began to write and compose. Most of the songs on her album Mehagrim (Immigrants) are her own work. Alberstein's husband is the filmmaker Nadav Levitan, who wrote the lyrics for her "End of the Holiday" album. In 1986 she wrote music for Levitan's film Yaldei Stalin (Children of Stalin). Her songs have been included in a number of multi-artist collections, among them "Songs of The Vilna Ghetto" and "The Hidden Gate - Jewish Music Around the World."