New Soul
By Arielle Dadon
The Israeli's have invaded! She's the No. 1 hit on the iTunes singles chart, Yael Naim; an Israeli singer known in France, Israel and now in the US, where she's become the biggest oversea Israeli solo artist in a decade.
The 29-year-old singer, born in Paris but raised in Israel, had a passion for music since her youth. Soon as she turned 18, she was drafted to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to serve as no less than the lead singer of one of the Israeli Air Force's band.
Yael's first international revelation happened when she was sent to sing in a charity event in Paris on behalf of the IDF. After she terminated her military service she returned to Paris, to pursue her dream as an artist.
She performed in the musical "The Ten Commandments" and was signed with the international music label, EMI, to produce "In a Man's Womb", her debut album, in 2001. However, the album was ignored by the radio stations and didn't sell any copies.
The failure of the album stopped Naim from producing any more projects since she failed her dream the first time. However, with Naim's current manager, David Donatien's help, she stunningly reached iTune's first place with the hit "New Soul"; popular thanks to being used in Apple's MacBook Air commercial.
Her new album even features songs sung in Hebrew whilst the accent is charmingly present in the rest of her English songs. It's sufficed to say that Israel's list of reasons to be proud is getting longer thanks to a "new soul."
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