Happy birthday, Sarit Hadad!

Yesterday (9/20), the popular Israeli singer celebrated her 40th birthday. Today, September 21, her daughter Noya celebrates her first birthday. It’s been quite a year!

To celebrate, let’s take a walk down memory lane and take a look at Sarit’s exciting musical career. (Most information courtesy of Sarit’s Hebrew Wikipedia page.)

In 1995, Sarit released her first album, “Nitzutz HaChaim” (The Spark of Life), which featured the song “Shalom Chaver”.

She’s been a powerful presence in the Israeli music scene ever since. However, her popularity truly took off in a big way with the release of her fourth and fifth albums, “Chok HaChaim” (Law of Life) and “Kmo Cinderella” (Like Cinderella), in 1998 and 1999 respectively. “Chok HaChaim” featured the popular song “Hakol Sagur”:

…while “Kmo Cinderella” included several popular songs, including, of course, the title track:

The success of “Kmo Cinderella” propelled Sarit to be named female singer of the year by Kol Yisrael Radio in 1989, at the young age of 21.

The 2000s

In 2001, Sarit released “Ashlayot Metukot” (Sweet Illusions), which sold more than 175,000 copies and brought us these two gems: “Yalla Lecha Habayta Moti”…

…and what is still probably her most popular song of all time, “KsheHaLev Bocheh”:

In 2002, Sarit was chosen to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Nadlik B’yachad Ner” (Light a Candle). At the time, we may have made fun of her funny access while speaking English, but the song finished in a respectable 12th place in the contest.

In 2004, Sarit continued her domination of the Israeli music charts with the release of “Chagigah”:

Israel’s “Miss Music”

In 2005, Sarit’s “diva” status only intensified with the release of her 13th album, “Miss Music”. Along with the album, Sarit celebrated her sixth visit to the famed Caesaria amphitheater, considered a major milestone in the career of any Israeli artist. Sarit released “Zeh SheShomer Alai” in 2007 – a far cry from her “Mizrachi” roots.

In 2009, Sarit was named “Singer of the Decade” by Galei Tzahal. That same year, she released the album “Merotz HaChaim”, featuring the hit wedding song, “Mekudeshet”:

She also released a song with another Singer of the Decade, Eyal Golan:

Other Highlights

• 2011: Sarit released “20” – her twentieth album, featuring (IMHO) one of her worst songs ever, “Do You Love Me”
• 2012-2014: Sarit participated as a judge in “The Voice Israel”. The clip above features Sarit singing with Kathleen Reiter, winner of season one.
• 2016: Sarit collaborated with Shalom Hanoch, covering Shalom’s song “Eich Zeh At” (Editorial comment: a very strange collaboration…)
• 2017: Sarit gave birth to her first child, Noya.
• 2018: “Sarit: The Show” – a Las Vegas-style spectacle, opened in Tel Aviv to generally warm reviews.
• 2018: Sarit’s songs received more airplay than any other artist throughout the Jewish year 5778. Most recently, she released her new song “Ben Adam” (below) in time for the Jewish High Holiday season.

These are but a few highlights of Sarit’s incredible 23-year career. “Miss Music” is showing no signs of slowing down! Best of luck to Sarit Hadad – and Happy 40th!