Monica Levi, Inspiration for Israeli Band Monica Sex, Passes Away After Illness

Monica Levi, whose nickname inspired the name of the Israeli rock band Monica Sex, died on Monday following a prolonged battle with a serious illness. Levi was a former bassist for the pioneering Israeli punk-rock band Killer HaLohet, which was formed in Haifa in the late 1970s. Born in Romania, she immigrated to Israel at age six and grew up in Beersheba. During her military service in the IDF's Military Police Investigations Unit, she met musicians who later formed Killer HaLohet, where she played under her maiden name, Monica Friedman.

The band's leader, musician and author Yoram Mark-Reich, explained in a Facebook post that he gave her the nickname "Monica Sex" due to her striking beauty. Years later, musicians Yehli Sobol and Peter Roth adopted the nickname as the name for their own band, Monica Sex. Killer HaLohet gained recognition in the early 1980s with provocative hits, including their 1981 song "I Want to Be Prime Minister," which received significant radio play.

Levi left the band after marrying Meir Levi, a fellow musician and later deputy commander in the Military Police Investigations Unit. The couple lived in Omer and raised two sons and had six grandchildren. Mark-Reich noted that Monica had been battling a severe illness for about four years, undergoing aggressive treatments, but the disease repeatedly returned. He shared that she passed away at Hadassah Hospital, with her husband by her side.