Yishai Levi’s Final Bow, from Margins to the Mainstream

Yishai Levi’s life, marked by extraordinary talent, deep addiction, and repeated attempts at renewal, was remembered a week after his funeral at age 63. The N12 feature traces how the singer, who rose from the fringes of Tel Aviv’s old central bus station to the heart of Israeli popular music, became a symbol of both the cost of success and the possibility of redemption.

Levi grew up in a strict, traditional religious home in Rosh HaAyin in the 1960s and 1970s. His father was a sofer, and Levi absorbed the discipline of the Yemenite synagogue, where, because of mourning customs, the human voice and rhythmic tapping on cans replaced instruments. He later drew on influences including Aharon Amram, Deklon and Rami Danok, but as a rebellious boy he wanted to sing for audiences, not remain a cantor. By age 13 he had left home and later found his break through producer and arranger Ben-Moshe, whose 1984 cassette of mostly cover versions sold hundreds of thousands of copies at the old central bus station in Tel Aviv.

Fame brought money, attention and insecurity, and Levi turned to drugs to blunt the fear of performing. In a 1996 Channel 1 interview he admitted, “I was recording to get money and using it to take drugs, precisely to fund it.” The addiction devastated his life, including his son Shir’s childhood, when the boy was raised by his grandparents and believed for years that they were his parents and that Levi was his brother. Levi also befriended Zohar Argov in South Tel Aviv clubs, and the relationship ended in tragedy in 1987 after Argov was arrested on a complaint by Levi’s partner Iris and later took his own life in custody.

Despite repeated collapses, Levi kept recording hits such as “Rikdi” in 1989, though he often missed shows and was consumed by drugs. He faced theft charges, severe weight loss, violence, an arson attempt at his home, rehab stays and prison time. Through it all, Iris remained beside him, and while he was incarcerated she helped organize his comeback show, which opened with “Bishvili At Hasha’ar LeGan Eden.” Levi later crossed into the mainstream with his 2008 hit “Rikud Romanti,” a bossa nova and pop track that won over younger Galgalatz editors, followed by “Isha Ne’emana.” He lived modestly in South Tel Aviv, remained married to Iris, had four children, and continued performing despite serious lung disease from years of smoking and drugs. He never claimed to be clean, saying instead, “Today I did not use. Tomorrow I pray I won’t use,” and he died surrounded by family and loved by a wide audience.