Doron Medalie ( he, דורון מדלי; born 5 December 1977) is an Israeli songwriter, composer and artistic director. He co-wrote the song "

Toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...

", which was performed by

Netta Barzilai Netta Barzilai ( he, נטע ברזילי; born 22 January 1993), also known mononymously as Netta, is an Israeli singer. After winning the fifth season of ''HaKokhav HaBa'', she earned the right to represent her country at the Eurovision Song C ...

and won the

Eurovision Song Contest 2018 The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was the 63rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Lisbon, Portugal, following the country's victory at the with the song " Amar pelos dois" by Salvador Sobral. Organised by the European ...

Biography

Doron Medalie was raised in

Ramat Hasharon Ramat HaSharon ( he, רָמַת הַשָּׁרוֹן, ''lit.'' '' Sharon Heights'', ar, رمات هشارون) is a city located on Israel's central coastal strip in the south of the Sharon region, bordering Tel Aviv to the south, Hod HaSharon ...

. As a child he studied music and keyboards at the music school, theatre at the Habima national theatre and Alon performing- art high-school. Later on, he studied screen-acting at the Sharon Alexander studio,

Flamenco dancing Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

at the Compass dance company, and

Gaga Gaga ( he, גע גע literally 'touch touch') (also: ga-ga, gaga ball, or ga-ga ball) is a variant of dodgeball that is played in a gaga "pit". The game combines dodging, striking, running, and jumping, with the objective of being the last perso ...

lessons at the Batsheva Dance Company with

Ohad Naharin Ohad () was the third son of Simeon; he is mentioned in Genesis 46:10. Ohad may also refer to: __NOTOC__ People Surname * Daniella Ohad, American design historian Given name * Ohad Benchetrit, Canadian musician * Ohad Cohen, goalkeeper for Hapo ...

Music career

Medalie has written over 500 songs, mostly known for his Middle Eastern pop style, like the famous "Tel Aviv Ya Habibi Tel Aviv" - the official anthem of Tel Aviv Gay Pride 2013. Medalie is also known as the one who is in charge of a big "Revolution Of Joy" in the Israeli music style, during the 2010s. He worked with top Israeli singers including

Eyal Golan Eyal Golan ( he, אייל גולן; born Eyal Bitton; 12 April 1971) is an Israeli singer who sings in the Mizrahi music pop fusion genre, and considered one of the most successful singers in Israel. Golan reported the highest income of all sing ...

Shlomi Shabat Shlomi Shabat ( he, שלומי שבת; born August 30, 1954) is an Israeli vocalist and musician. He is of Turkish Eastern Sephardic Jewish origin. Early life Shabat was born in Yehud, Israel, to a family of Sephardic Jewish descent who immig ...

Omer Adam Omer Adam ( he, עומר אדם; born October 22, 1993) is an Israeli singer whose music fuses elements of eastern Mizrahi music (Oriental-Middle Eastern) and Western Pop instrumentation. In 2009, he participated in the seventh season of ''Kokha ...

Lior Narkis Lior Narkis ( he, ליאור נרקיס; born November 8, 1976 in Holon, Israel) is an Israeli singer. Biography Lior Narkis was born in Holon. His father, David Narkis, was of Iraqi-Jewish origin. His mother Hanna Narkis, was of Serbian-Jewis ...

, Moshe Perez, Noa Kirel ,

and

Harel Skaat Harel Skaat ( he, הראל סקעת, born 8 August 1981) sometimes known by the mononym Harel is an Israeli singer and songwriter. He represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song " Milim" ("מילים", "Words"). Skaat ...

. His solo album, ''Abyss'', was released in 2008. Medalie created over 30 songs to the famous Israel's children show "the festigal" In 2019 he co-wrote with Idan Raichel, the official song for the 70th anniversary of Israel- "shevet achim ve’achayot" Medalie also composed theme songs and soundtracks for many Israeli TV shows, like''Goalstar'', ''The Unit'', ''Bolywood''. ''Royal Chef'', ''The Bachelor'', ''Split''. ''Zagury Empire'', "ZIGI" and for

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

Israel, ''Summer Break Stories'', ''

North Star Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude tha ...

'' and ''Shavit Ventura Show''. Few songs of Medalie was translated to Greek, sung by the Greek superstar

Eleni Foureira Eleni Foureira ( el, Ελένη Φουρέιρα; born Entela Fureraj; 7 March 1987) is a naturalised Greek, Albanian singer and dancer. She began her music career in 2007 as a member of the Greek girl group Mystique, pursuing a solo career after ...

, and became big hits in Greece and Cyprus. Among his achievements are 3 ACUM awards (the Israeli songwriters association), 2 songs of the year, 2 songs of the decade, 4 most played songs on the public dance floor chart.

Artistic director career

Medalie is the only songwriter in the world (who is not a performing artist) who got the spot as a coach on

THE VOICE ISRAEL ''The Voice Israel'' (Hebrew: ''The Voice ישראל'') is the Israeli version of ''The Voice of Holland''. It is part of the international syndication ''The Voice'' based on the reality singing competition launched in the Netherlands, created ...

, 2019. As an artistic director, he started his career in 2001, as an assistant director of Yaron Meiri's Orpan Group. Together they were in charge of more than 100 commercial-stage-shows. His breakthrough was as artistic manager of the talent shows '' A Star is Born'' and '' Eyal Golan Is Calling You''. Later on he was in charge of the casting of

X FACTOR ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003) ...

Israel (2021). For more than 15 years, he directed the Israeli Music Awards (ACUM) and the national Memorial Day ceremony.

Views and opinions

He said that the lyrics of the 2018 Eurovision-winning song "Toy" were inspired by the #MeToo movement, and that the song carries a message about "the awakening of female power and social justice".

Eurovision Song Contest

Medalie participated at the Eurovision song contest 8 times, as an artistic member of the Israeli delegation. He directed the Israeli entry for the Eurovision three times (

Boaz Ma'uda Boaz Ma'uda ( he, בועז מעודה, born April 23, 1987) is an Israeli singer and songwriter. He won the fifth season of '' Kokhav Nolad'', the Israeli version of ''Pop Idol'', and represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, finishi ...

- 2008,

- 2010, Moran Mazor - 2013). He wrote and composed the Israeli entries for Eurovision 2015 - " Golden Boy" (

Nadav Guedj Nadav Guedj ( he, נדב גדג'; born 2 November 1998) is an Israeli singer and actor who represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. He is the winner of season two of ''HaKokhav HaBa'' (Israel's '' Rising Star''). Guedj was born in ...

), which ended 3rd in the semi-finals and was awarded a spot in the final on May 23, 2015, where he ended 9th with 97 points. The song achieved "the Israeli song of the year" award. For Eurovision 2016 - " Made of Stars" (

Hovi Star Hovav Sekulets ( he, חובב סקולץ; born 19 November 1986), known by his stage name Hovi Star ( he, חובי סטאר), is an Israeli singer. He represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song " Made of Stars" by Doron ...

), which ended 7th in the semi-finals and was awarded a spot in the final on May 14, 2016, where he ended 14th with 135 points. Doron collaborated with

Zvika Pick Svika Pick (, 3 October 1949 – 14 August 2022), born Henryk Pick, was an Israeli pop singer, songwriter, composer, and television personality. Pick first gained traction on a national level after playing a lead part in an Israeli version of t ...

; together they wrote "Sing My Song" for

Sofia Nizharadze Sopho "Sofia" Nizharadze ( ka, სოფო ნიჟარაძე, ) is a Georgian singer, actress, and songwriter who represented Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song " Shine". Nizharadze was a judge on the TV shows ''G ...

(Eurovision pre-selection

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, 2010). For the

, he composed the music and wrote the lyrics together with composer Stav Beger for the winning song "

", sung by

. In 2020, he co-wrote with

Idan Raichel Idan Raichel ( he, עידן רייכל, ; b. 12 September 1977) is an Israeli singer-songwriter and musician known for his "Idan Raichel Project" (Hebrew: ), distinctive for its fusion of electronics, traditional Hebrew texts, and diverse mu ...

the song "

Feker Libi "Feker Libi" () is a song recorded by Israeli singer Eden Alene, performed in English, Amharic, Hebrew and Arabic. It was planned to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. It would have been the first Eurovision entry to contain ...

", which was sung by

Eden Alene Eden Alene (; ; born 7 May 2000) is an Israeli singer. Having won the seventh season of the singing competition ''Rising Star (Israeli TV series), HaKokhav HaBa'', she had been set to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, Israel ...

and would have represented

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The con ...

, before the event was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. In 2023, he co-wrote the song "Unicorn", sung by Noa Kirel (music & lyrics by: May Sfadia,

Yinon Yahel Yinon Yahel ( he, ינון יהל; born 26 August 1978), is an Israeli multi-instrumentalist, music producer, DJ, and remixer. He produced the Israeli 'Song of the Year' in 2015 and 2017 and was awarded 'Arranger of the Year' in 2015. Career 19 ...

, Noa Kirel and Doron Medalie).

Notable songs

– "Aba", "Bereshit Olam" *

– "Im yesh gan eden" *

– "Tel Aviv", "Why li", "Baniti allayich", "Names mimech", "temperatura" and many more *

– "Shaga'at-Tarefet", "Mahapecha shel simcha", "Amalia" *

– "21st century", "La’uf" * Maya Buskila – "Nishmati" *

– " Golden Boy" *

– " Made of Stars" *

– "Sto Theo me paei" (Cover of Golden Boy), "Ti koitas", "Caramela", "Temperatura" *

– "

" * Moshe Perez - "Caramela" *Artists of Israel – "Shevet Achim Ve’achayot" *

Indira Levak Indira Levak (, also known by her stage name Indira Forza; born 15 September 1973) is a Croatian singer. She was the lead vocalist of a Croatian dance music trio, Colonia. Biography Indira was born to Croatian father Franjo and Bosniak mother ...

– "You Will Never Break My Heart" *

Milica Pavlović Milica Pavlović ( sr-Cyrl, Милица Павловић, ; born 11 August 1991) is a Swiss-born Serbian singer. She gained fame in 2011/12 as a contestant on the singing competition show '' Zvezde Granda''. Pavlović has released four studio a ...

– "Riba de luxe"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Medalie, Doron 1977 births Living people 20th-century Israeli Jews 21st-century Israeli Jews Jewish Israeli musicians Israeli male songwriters Israeli artistic directors Israeli gay musicians Gay composers Gay Jews Israeli LGBT songwriters Gay songwriters 20th-century Israeli male musicians 21st-century Israeli male musicians People from Ramat HaSharon Eurovision Song Contest winners 20th-century Israeli LGBT people 21st-century Israeli LGBT people