Amir Haddad

Laurent Amir Khlifa Khedider Haddad (Hebrew: לורן עמיר חליפה חדידר חדד‎‎, born 20 June 1984 in Paris, France), better known as Amir Haddad (Hebrew: עמיר חדד‎‎), or simply as Amir, is a French-Israeli singer and songwriter. He took part in 2006 in the Israeli music competition Kokhav Nolad, released his album Vayehi in 2011 and was a finalist in French competition The Voice: la plus belle voix as part of Team Jenifer finishing third in the competition. He represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "J'ai cherché", which finished in 6th place.

Haddad was born in Paris, France to Sephardic Jewish parents from Tunisia and Morocco. He grew up in Sarcelles (Val-d'Oise) and immigrated to Israel in 1992 at the age of 8 as part of Aliyah and residing in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv district. He sang as a young child in the synagogue and in various social events.

Amir was born with a hearing loss of 50% and only hears the left side.

2006–13: Kokhav Nolad & Vayehi

Amir in 2016

He came to fame in 2006 with his participation in the fourth season of the Israeli song competition Kokhav Nolad (in Hebrew כוכב נולד meaning A Star is Born), the Israeli equivalent of the Pop Idol held May to September 2006. He was the first candidate to sing mostly French language songs during the audition. He advanced for 4 stages before being eliminated.

The series was won by Jacko Eisenberg. Not winning in the season, he finished his obligatory military service in the Israeli Defence Forces and continued his studies in dentistry in Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Jerusalem graduating in 2012. His song Kache limtso mili, the Hebrew version of Patrick Bruel's French hit J'te l'dis quand même, came alongside a music video. Bruel loved his rendition and invited him to sing it with him in a grand event in Raanana Park on 23 May 2008 in front of 8000 spectators. He sang it yet again much later in 2013, during the gala in tribute of Anaelle Ledoroth in Paris on 27 May 2013. In 2011, he released his debut studio album Vayehi co-written by Haddad and Omri Dagan during the years when Amir was a university student. The album included his already popular version of "Kache limtso milim". He also revived a 1990s hit Désenchantée by French artist Mylène Farmer. Haddad's version was produced by the famous Israeli producer Offer Nissim. Meanwhile, he pursued his passion in music.

At the end of the competition, Haddad was signed to a French label, creating a following in France, Switzerland, the United States and Brazil in addition to Israel. He cooperated with a number of artists, notably Shlomi Shabat, Haim Moshe, Dudu Aharon, Gad Elbaz and Eyal Golan.

2014–15: The Voice: la plus belle voix

In 2014, he took part in season 3 of the French television series The Voice: la plus belle voix broadcast on TF1 from 11 January 2014 to 10 May 2014. In the blind auditions, Haddad sang "Candle in the Wind" from Elton John with all four coaches, Garou, Mika, Jenifer and Florent Pagny turning their chairs. Haddad chose to be part of Team Jenifer. He made it to the Final where he finished third.

Performances

Amir toured France with other The Voice finalists. He also appeared in compilation album Forever Gentleman 2, in the concert by charity association Leurs voix pour l'espoir in Olympia, Paris, appeared in the #OBJETPUBLIC calendar of the magazine Public and many other appearances. He also released a music video for "Candle in the Wind", a song he had interpreted during the blind auditions in The Voice. He is preparing a first album in French. In 2015, he released the hit single "Oasis" under the mononym Amir charting in SNEP, the French Singles Chart.

2016–present: Eurovision and Au cœur de moi

Amir performing at Eurovision 2016

In 2016 he was selected by French public broadcaster France 2 to represent France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden. Amir's song was chosen internally by France 2 by a committee headed by France 2 entertainment director Nathalie André and the newly appointed French Head of Delegation for the Eurovision Song Contest Edoardo Grassi after having received 280 submissions. The song titled "J'ai cherché" is co-written by Amir himself, Nazim Khaled and Johan Errami and contains lyrics in a bilingual mix of French and English.

France 2 had originally planned to reveal the entry on 12 March 2016, however, information that Amir would represent France at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was leaked on 25 February 2016 during the D8 talk show programme Touche pas à mon poste!, hosted by Cyril Hanouna. "J'ai cherché" was edited and remixed by Skydancers and Nazim Khaled at the request of the French broadcaster since the song exceeded three minutes in its original version, which had already been released as the first single from Amir's forthcoming album. The entry was formally presented to the public on 12 March 2016 during the France 2 programme The DiCaire Show, hosted by Véronic DiCaire.

The song finished 6th overall in the grand final with 257 points, France's best placing since 2002 and the country's highest-scoring entry in their contest history.

He released his second studio album Au cœur de moi on 29 April 2016, the album has peaked at number 6 on the French Albums Chart and has been certified platinum, the album has also charted in Belgium and Switzerland.

On 7 July 2014, Amir married Lital, his longtime companion in Israel.

Albums

Singles