Milk and Honey ( he, חלב ודבש ''Khalav U'Dvash'') was an Israeli vocal group. The original line-up consisted of Shmulik Bilu, Reuven Gvirtz, Yehuda Tamir and

Gali Atari Gali Atari ( he, גלי עטרי; born December 29, 1953) is an Israeli singer and actress. Atari won the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 which was held in Jerusalem, as part of Milk and Honey. Early life Atari was born in Rehovot, Israel, to Je ...

History

The group was assembled in 1978 by producer Shlomo Zach and composer

Kobi Oshrat Kobi Oshrat ( he, קובי אשרת; born July 15, 1944) is an Israeli composer and conductor. He composed and conducted the winning entry at the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest ''Hallelujah'' sung by the vocal ensemble Milk and Honey. Biography ...

, after both

Hakol Over Habibi Hakol Over Habibi (Hebrew: הכל עובר חביבי, lit. "Everything goes by, my love"; also known in English as Habibi Group) was an Israeli musical band which represented their country in Eurovision Song Contest 1981 with the song " Halayl ...

and

Yardena Arazi Yardena Shulamit Arazi (born Yardena Finebaum; he, ירדנה ארזי; September 25, 1951) is an Israeli singer and entertainer. In 2008 Arazi was named the most popular Israeli singer of all time at the 60th Independence Day celebration. Ear ...

turned down the opportunity to perform Oshrat's song "

Hallelujah ''Hallelujah'' ( ; he, ''haləlū-Yāh'', meaning "praise Yah") is an interjection used as an expression of gratitude to God. The term is used 24 times in the Hebrew Bible (in the book of Psalms), twice in deuterocanonical books, and four tim ...

" in the Israeli national selection for the

Eurovision Song Contest 1979 The Eurovision Song Contest 1979 was the 24th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Jerusalem, Israel, following the country's victory at the with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta. Organised by th ...

. Milk and Honey eventually won the national selection, and went on to also win the Eurovision Song Contest 1979. "Hallelujah" peaked in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

at #5 in April 1979. The group had one other international hit, "Goodbye New York". Less than a year after the song contest, Atari retired from Milk and Honey and was replaced by Leah Lupatin in 1981. The same year, Atari sued Zach for unpaid royalties; in 1994, an Israeli court ruled in Atari's favour, ordering Zach to pay the royalties. Subsequently, in 2003, Zach and his partners sued Oshrat, alleging that Oshrat should have also contributed to the payments made to Atari, as he was a partner in the group. That lawsuit was settled in 2009 through

mediation Mediation is a structured, interactive process where an impartial third party neutral assists disputing parties in resolving conflict through the use of specialized communication and negotiation techniques. All participants in mediation are ...

. Milk and Honey competed in the national final on two further occasions; they performed the song "Serenada" in 1981, coming fourth, and "Ani Ma'amin" in 1989, where they came eighth. Gvirtz and Tamir accompanied the Israeli song contest act in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

References

{{Authority control Eurovision Song Contest winners Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1979 Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Israel Israeli pop music groups Musical groups established in 1979

History

See also

References