Israeli singer Bar Tzabary said his late partner, Or Chaya Shitrit, urged him to join the TV competition that launched his career, even as she was dying of cancer. In a recent interview on Radio 100FM, he recalled that while she was hospitalized at Schneider Children's Medical Center, they watched the show together and she told him, “If it ever becomes for boys too, you have to go.”
Tzabary, known for hits such as “Johnny” and “Crazy Girl,” said he never intended to audition for “Eyal Golan Calls You.” A friend from the army pushed him to try, and he went on stage “broken,” performing a song he had written and composed in Shitrit’s memory. He said their relationship lasted two and a half years, and her illness was diagnosed not long after they began dating.
He described staying by her side until her final days, and said she was the one who first opened the door to music for him. “I could not write a single word while she was alive, from the moment she died I started writing music,” he said. The emotional performance moved Eyal Golan and the judges, leading Golan to professionally produce the song.
That recording became Tzabary’s debut single, “Now,” which helped launch a successful career. Tzabary said the sudden exposure was overwhelming, so he stepped away from music and social media for four to five years before returning. He is now widely recognized, performs to large crowds, and said he remains grateful for Shitrit’s role in his life.
