He's a superstar !!!
He is Aviv Geffen and he is THE Israeli Rockstar !!
So let's get to know a little bit about who once called us a fucking generation !!
(Photo: Chicko Askenazi)
1. His full name is Aviv Baruch Geffen, he was born on May 10, 1973 in Ramat Gan but grew up in Moshav Beit Yitzhak.
2. He was born to a couple of talented and famous parents, his father, Yehonatan Geffen is a poet, writer, playwright, songwriter, and a lot more. His mother, Nurit Geffen, is an actress and TV anchor. Aviv has a sister, Shira Geffen, who is also a talented and famous, actress, playwright, writer, screenwriter, and director.
3. Only 11 years old Aviv made his first appearance on the show "Eighths in the Air" on channel one where he sang the song "Kolech Bat 40" which he composed for a song written by his sister Shira Geffen, in honor of their mother's birthday.
4. He studied in the middle school of the Ruppin Academic Center but was expelled from thereafter at a year-end party he dedicated a love song to his literature teacher.
5. After being expelled from he began to study at "Rimon" music school where he met Karin Ofir, the daughter of the actor Shaike Ofir, after which they soon left the school together.
6. After leaving Rimon, Aviv began looking for musicians for his first band "Cats in the Pipe" with which he recorded his first song "Friend" when he was only 17 years old. The band recorded the song in order to impress the record company "Hed Artzi" to get a record contract.
7. The young and fresh band did not manage to get the contract at first but after the intervention of Haim Shemesh (one of the main figures in the Israeli rock of the 90s), they managed to get the desired contract and recorded their first album.
8. When he was only 18, in 1992 Aviv released his debut album "It's Just the Moonlight". Aviv wrote and composed all the songs on the album produced by Moshe Levy, the Cats in the Pipe changed their name to the "Hataoyut" and became the regular band that accompanies Aviv.
(Photo: last.fm)
9. The album was written in light of the difficult experiences that Aviv went through at the time, such as the divorce of his parents, his good friend who was killed, and his girlfriend who left him became one of the most important albums in the history of Israeli rock and a milestone in its development. The album includes big singles like: "A Billion Wrong", "Moonlight", "We're Both Equal" and "Last Night".
10. Some of the texts on the album deal with criticism of the army and the government and the combination of Aviv's statements in an interview that was published in the 7 Days newspaper about his non-service in the IDF. Initially, it was reported that Aviv did not enlist because he refused to serve in the army but a few years later it was reported that he did not serve due to a medical problem, scoliosis due to which a platinum rod was implanted in his back.
11. In the same year, Aviv began starring in the famous TV series "Inyan Shel Zman" which focused on the plots of 11th-grade students in a high school in North Tel Aviv, discussed the problems of adolescents, and dealt with issues such as: school, adolescence, love, IDF recruitment, Drugs and more... In 1993 he left the series which continued until 1996.
12. In the same year... he starred in the film by director Zuri Maimon "The Beach Boys", for which he also wrote and sang the theme song. And he also composed the song "You are missing me here" for Nurit Galron, whose lyrics he composed together with his sister Shira Geffen.
13. In 1993, Aviv's second album, "Cloudy Now", was also released, arranged, and produced by Moshe Levy. The album was dedicated to his friend Nir Spinner and Geffen also wrote and composed all the songs on this album. This album included an even larger number of successful songs such as: "Cloudy Now", "Song of the Rags", "Crying on the Grave", "Maybe", "Do not Worry", "On the Sea of Galilee at Sunrise", "The Children", "You Fallen" And "Ilana."
14. The album was a much greater success than its predecessor and the song "Cloudy Now" became one of the most played songs on the radio that year and in the annual choral chart of "Reshet Gimel", Geffen won the title of Singer of the Year.
15. After the album's release, following its great success, Aviv began to form a growing fan base that he calls "Children of the Moonlight"
16. In the same year, Geffen wrote and composed all the songs, for the debut album of the singer "Keren Hecht", which is also named after her. Except for one song called "His Head" which he wrote based on Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. Singles were released from the album: "Forever", "Hannah", "On Condition to Return" and "Give Me Alone".
17. In 1994, Aviv released his third album, "Aviv Geffen III", this time without the band "Hataoyut". The album reached gold status within a few days and established Aviv's status as one of the most prominent artists in Israel. The album expresses the mental problems of an adolescent just before he was drafted into the army. Among the prominent songs on the album were: "Is Being In Love With You", "Getting Lost", "Respect", "Suicide", "The Closest Alone", and "I Set With Happiness", in a duet with Lior Tevet. "Is being in love with you" won the title of "Song of the Year" on the "Reshset Gimel" and Aviv once again won the title of "Singer of the Year".
18. In 1995, Aviv released his fourth album, "Nowhere." The album was recorded in London and caused a stir in Israel due to the song "Nowhere", which included the line "Whoever goes there drunk, it's the prime minister" which was a hint at rumors about the drinking habits of the then prime minister - Yitzhak Rabin. Following this, the song was disqualified for broadcast on the radio. Singles released from the album: "We Loved", "Angel" and "Peace".
19. In 1996, Aviv released his fifth album, "The Letter", where he returned to collaborate with the band "Hataoyut" and Moshe Levy. Among the familiar songs on the album were: "Tomorrow Will Never Come", "You Have Me", "The Excuse", "The Letter", "Sad Without You", "Seasons", "Jealousy" and "Rebellion of Tears", written following the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. The album also includes Aviv's performance of the song "Cry for You" at a rally in memory of Rabin, held a week after the assassination.
20. In the same year, Aviv published the book "The Forbidden Songs", which contained the lyrics and characters of his songs from the albums released from 1992 to 1996.
21. We usually do not tend to mention compilation albums, but in 1997 Aviv released the double compilation album "Full Moon - The Collection" which in addition to the 20 songs from his previous albums and songs that were shelved from them, two new songs were added - "End of the World" with Berry Sakharof And "Shir Tikva." Both became rock anthems and entered the Israeli music classic.
22. In 1998 the album "Hollow" was released, again without the "Hataoyut" and with the artistic advice of Berry Sakharof, which was expressed in a louder album, with an emphasis on electric guitars and effects. The album was recorded in London and was different from Aviv's previous albums in terms of sound, which was more metallic than Aviv's usually warm sound. The album was not a great success, but the hits "Good Morning Iran" and "Superstar" still came out strong.
23. In 1999 the eighth album "White Nights" was released. The album is mostly based on Aviv's divorce from Ilana Berkowitz and was characterized by softer and more melodic songs than its predecessor, such as: "Our Song", "Romeo and Juliet", "White Nights", "Mexico" and "Silence".
24. In the same year, Aviv began an intimate tour, with keyboardist "Hataoyut" Daniel Salomon, in which he performed without the band, accompanied by piano and guitar. The tour has been a great success and since then, Aviv has been out every winter for an intimate tour.
25. In 2000, Aviv's ninth album "Journey Diary" was released, a melodic and complex album, which expresses a more subdued line of Aviv, compared to the screams and distortions that were customary on his previous albums, mainly due to the song "Leather Skins" with the phrase "beloved homeland". In the album, Aviv hosts Shalom Hanoch in the song "Hatzer Hamelech" and Arik Einstein in the song "Yoman Masa". This album was the last in which Geffen collaborated with Moshe Levy as a music producer.
26. In the same year, Aviv invited the band Porcupine Tree, which he admired to perform in Israel. Following the band's performance, Aviv met with the band's lead singer Steven Wilson and from there began to form friendships and musical partnerships. Aviv, who was looking to break through the borders of Israel, wanted to form the band that became "Blackfield" with Steven.
(Photo: Blackfield)
27. In 2002, Aviv's tenth album "Memento Mori" ("Remember Death") was released. It was recorded in Copenhagen, Denmark. The album is dedicated to Aviv's grandmother, Geula, who passed away that year, and includes the song "Sad Song" written in her memory. Other released singles: "Going Forward" and "Keren Or".
28. In 2003, the documentary film "Aviv" came out, directed by Tomer Heiman, is about the life of Aviv.
The film opened the Bangkok International Film Festival and won the sympathy of the Thai audience.
29. In the same year, Aviv published the second book, "The Forbidden Songs II", which contains the lyrics to the albums released from 1997 to 2002.
30. In the same year, Aviv released a joint song with the Arab hip-hop band "Blood". In addition to the song "Innocent Criminals" written by Tamer Nafar, the band's lead singer, and composed by Geffen and even filmed for him, Aviv was seen in an IDF uniform, which caused a stir in light of Aviv's history.
31. In 2004, Aviv participated in a 12-episode reality show called "Aviv Geffen's Blog" on the Yes network. The blog was broadcast from Aviv's home and was also broadcast live on the Internet.
32. What started as an EP in 2001 became the band's full-length debut album "Blackfield". Wilson and Aviv recorded 10 songs together with two of them being the English version of Aviv's songs, "Cloudy Now" and "Scars", Wilson sang all the songs on the album except the two.
33. In 2005, Aviv published his first book, "Children of Sunday," which briefly visits important stations in his life.
34. In 2006 Aviv released his eleventh album "With Time", the album was produced for him by Ofer Nissim, who worked with Aviv on all the songs released singles were: "With Time", "Tomorrow", "For You", "It's Just The heart that hurts you "and" there is no time under the sun ".
35. The album also came out in a special edition and included a bonus album called "Out of Competition" which is an acoustic album that combines acoustic versions of previous Aviv songs and instrumental tracks.
36. In 2006 Aviv wrote and composed most of the songs for Ninet Tayeb's debut album "Barefoot", which he also produced musically. Only two days after its release the album received the title of Gold Album.
37. In 2007 Blackfield II's second album by the band Blackfield was released. Unlike the previous album which was recorded over almost three years in London and Israel, this time Wilson came to Israel for six months in which the album was recorded continuously. That same year, the band released a DVD and live album called Blackfield - Live in New York City.
38. In 2008, Aviv and Ofer Nissim produced an album for the anonymous singer "Alex", which he took under his wing and accompanied her on his performances.
39. In the same year, Aviv released a double live album, which includes songs performed during his performances over the summer of 2007. The album also included a DVD with clips and rare live clips from his family's home camera. The performance singles "The Garden of Sins" and "Big Dreams" came out as singles. On March 6, Aviv has a big show in honor of the launch of the album, which featured Berry Sakharof, Assaf Amdursky, and the lead singer of the "B-J" band Robin Gibb.
40. In July 2008, Aviv published the song "The Child of All of Us", which he wrote about the abducted soldier Gilad Shalit.
(Photo: Mick Hutson)
41. In 2009, Aviv's first international solo album was released, bearing his name. Before the release of the album, Aviv released the single "It's Alright", which entered the playlist of the NME radio station. Another single that came out is "It Was Meant to Be a Love Song" which entered the top five music videos on NME.
42. In 2011 Blackfield's third album Welcome to my DNA was released. This time Aviv was the one who led the writing and he is also the one who sang this time more than Wilson, who sang as a lead singer in only five of the eleven songs.
43. In 2012, Aviv's 12th album was released called "Mosaic". The album includes a number of collaborations, including three songs that Aviv wrote with Idan Raichel: "Thorns", "Railroad" and "Dolls". A song he wrote with Sharon Lifshitz "Nostalgia" and a song with Eviatar Banai "The End of the World".
44. In the same year, Aviv began holding the "Rock Ball" music festival, which also features other musicians and artists, from Israel and around the world, and continues to this day.
45. Beginning in 2012, Aviv began serving as a mentor on the reality show "The Voice Israel."
46. In 2013 the band Blackfield released their fourth album Blackfield IV, as a trend that started already on the previous album, Aviv took a bigger part in this album in writing and creating as Wilson focused on his solo career. Although the two worked together and collaborated on writing some of the music and lyrics, the vast majority as well as the lead of the album was done by Aviv.
47. In 2014, Aviv released the album "Cracks". The album included the singles: "A New World", "I would sing to you", "Pain for Pain", written for his father Jonathan Geffen, and "Turns Around", which he performed together with singer and creator Matti Caspi. "Revolving" was a huge hit and was most heard on the radio throughout 2014.
48. In the same year, Sgt. Matan Gottlieb was killed in Khan Yunis during Operation Eitan. Matan, who had been a fan of Aviv Geffen since a young age, managed to be at his show a few days before his death. Aviv then wrote the song "War Harvest" about him.
49. In 2017, Aviv released the first single "Who I Am Today", to date he has released five more singles: "Come to Me" with Orit Shahaf, "Until the Light Shines", "Hallelujah", "Swing" written for his eldest son and " You are not alone "with the participation of Mikiagi and Dudi Levy. But the album as a whole has not yet been released.
50. In the same year the band Blackfield released their fifth album Blackfield V. This time the two returned to collaborate equally Wilson invests more time in writing and creating the album, this album is produced by none other than Alan Parsons.
51. In 2018, Aviv participated in the TV show "Aviv Or Eyal" with the singer "Eyal Golan". A reality shows that deals with the discovery of musical talents by judges Aviv Geffen and Eyal Golan, who represent two styles of music that are opposite to reality.
52. In 2020, Aviv released a joint single with Avraham Fried called "In the Drought", which he wrote and composed. In May 2021, Aviv appeared with Fried in the Sultan's Pool in two shows for the ultra-Orthodox religious public and apologized to this public for the background of some of his songs from the past that may have harmed it.
53. In 2021, Aviv judged on the reality show "The X Factor Israel", to find an Israeli representative at the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, along with Neta Barzilai, Margalit Tsanani, Miri Mesika and Ran Danker.
54. In March 2022 came out the series "Lunar Years", which created a spring and follows the beginning of his career, in the early nineties.
55. In May 2023, Aviv celebrated his 50th birthday with a huge concert in Yarkon Park, the show was attended by over 40,000 people and it hosted Mati Caspi, Ninet Taib, Rami Portis, Barry Sakharoff and more.
56. In the same month, Aviv published a children's book called "Silverline", dedicated to his children Dylan and Eliot. The book was edited by his father Jonathan Geffen, who died about two weeks before the book was published.
57. In May 2024, Geffen received an honorary doctorate from Bar-Ilan University.
Listen to Aviv's latest album "Cracks" on Spotify, Apple Music
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