Is one of our favorite rockers !!!
He is like Hulk, quiet and shy in interviews and talk shows but on stage, he is a powerful and formidable lion !!
(Photo: Avihai Levy)
So here are some facts we know to tell you about him:
= He was born on January 29, 1970.
= His full name is Nahum Petrover.
= He attended Telma Yellin High School of Arts.
= To the best of our knowledge in everything related to music he learned by himself, he never studied music in an official institution.
= Tom served in a military band where he met his wife Orit Shahaf.
= After completing their military service, the two teamed up to form the cover band "Tom and the Bomb".
= In 1992, the two formed the band "Hayehudim"
(Photo: Avihai Levy)
= The band's name was suggested to them by producer Eldad Ziv and producer Roi Zo-Eretz.
= One of the nice things that set this band apart from others is the fact that its fan base and exposure have been created by live shows in every possible pub, club, and venue and not by the popular media.
= The radio and television stations were not interested in broadcasting this style of music (still today!!) and therefore the band did not get exposure from any of the leading media channels.
= In August 1995, the band's debut album "Separate Reality" was released, which in addition to Orit and Tom were co-creators: Avi Yifrach on bass, Eran Mittelman on keyboards, Shmulik Budgov on guitar and Asher Pedi on drums.
= In everything related to the financing of the album, the music videos, and the singles, the support came from Tmira Yardeni who is the founder of Teddy Productions company (The Next Star, The Eighth, Born to Dance, Comedy Store, and more).
= On the day of the album's release, a special performance was held at the "12th Night" club, which was attended by less than 20 people. Tom tends to mention this show in their shows when he has a hard time believing where they are today.
= The album received significant exposure when 6 songs from the album were part of the soundtrack of the dramatic and tragic film "Young Forever", which aired in December on Channel 2.
= Three years later came out the band's second album named after the band.
= The first time the band gained significant media exposure on the radio was in 1999 when it won the title of "Band of the Year" by the radio station Gali Tzahal.
= Tom and the band never put much importance on charts or titles. They started as an underdog and they want to stay as an underdog, which makes them work harder, according to Tom.
(Photo: Avihai Levy)
= In July 2002, the band's third album called "Death Fear" was released.
= In August 2003, the band released a double album and a DVD of a live performance that took place at the Jaffa Theater Club, a club that is officially considered the home of the band. In 2020 we were informed of the closure of the club as a result of a lockout imposed by the Corona plague.
= July 20, 2004, The band released an "Unplugged" double album of acoustic performance, the single from the album "If Already" which was not released or recorded in any other version, was widely played on various radio stations.
= In the period after the third album, the band went on tour in the US. They wanted to try to live abroad as a band while performing and writing. In light of the problematic use of the name "The Jews", the band changed its name to "I.U.D.M", Tom said it was the best solution they could find that would reflect the band's name. The experience was crowned a relative failure and the band members returned to Israel.
= Five years after the third album, the band's fourth album "Forte" was released, and the album was named "Album of the Year" at the AMI Awards Ceremony.
= At that time, Tom and Orit participated in an advertisement for the cellular company Cellcom with the song "You have no place."
= After the release of the album and until 2015, 8 years, the band spent most of their time performing non-stop while at the same time, Tom and Orit were building their family cell.
= In 2007, Orit and Tom had their first child.
= In 2009 the band started working on an album full of English songs but it did not materialize.
= At that time, the band performed an acoustic show that was very successful, following which the band went on a long tour called "Hayehudim BeYeshiva". Out of the tour came the cover version of Meir Banai's song "With You in the World", a song that also received many plays on popular radio stations.
= Tom wrote and composed the song "Come to You" by Guy Zo-Aretz.
= In 2014, there were rumors that Tom and Orit would be part of the judge's panel on the "Next Star" Tv Show, but this did not materialize.
= In August 2015, the band's last album "No More" was released.
= To promote the album, the band performed the entire album in a live performance in a studio and broadcast the performance online through Walla! website.
= There are rumors that in 2017 Tom was offered to participate in the reality show “Golstar” but he politely declined.
= The band appeared three times in Caesarea, in 2010, 2011 and in 2019.
(Photo: Avihai Levy)
= Tom and the band were an opening act for a large number of rock bands from abroad such as: Metallica, Rage Against The Machine, and many more...
= In 2020 Tom performed for the first time an acting role in the TV series "The Crooks", in the series he plays the role of the charismatic "Mano" who captured the heart of Miri Pascal. He also wrote part of the soundtrack for the series.
(Photo: Vered Adir/YES)
= Tom co-wrote soundtracks for several series such as: "Tonight", "Doll of a Country", "The Eight" and more...
= In 2021 Tom and Orit participated in an advertisement for the "Quik" shopping app with an adaptation of the song "Looking for an Answer" (Mehapes Tshuva).
= When Tom was asked if in ten years from now, he would also continue to make music, he said he was not looking at years and he would continue to make music as long as he had the urge and creativity.
= A song by band was chosen for the car company "Fiat" advertisement in the USA. An instrumental section, which accompanies the advertisement from beginning to end, is taken from the song "Here it comes".
(Photo: Avihai Levy)
= In 2005 the band released the first single from the forthcoming album called "Like" but it did not enter the "Forte" album, the single was sold on CD in a performance to mark ten years of the album "Separated Reality" at the Raanana Amphitheater.
= In 2019 the band released a limited edition of the two albums "Separate Reality" and "Hayehudim" on vinyl.
= On June 1, 2022, an extraordinary and unique event took place for the first time in our small country. The band "Hayehudim" who hosted Raviv Kaner, together with 400 musicians, guitarists, drummers, bassists, keyboard players, and singers, with the musical director Guy Mazig, performed two songs in honor of Jerusalem Day. The song "Looking for an Answer" and the song "Jerusalem of Gold", the event took place on the walls of the City of David, hosted by the City of Jerusalem municipality, and was produced by the company "Kapaim". Since your loyal servants took part in that event, we will say with total honesty that it was one of the biggest and most exciting events we took part in!!!
Listen to the band's latest album "No More" which is underrated and is not performed enough in the band's live shows in our opinion: Spotify, Apple Music