IMRI

Imri Ziv, as known as IMRI (Hebrew: אימרי זיו‎‎; born 12 September 1991) is an Israeli singer and voice actor. He will represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kiev with the song "I Feel Alive", after winning HaKokhav HaBa. Born in Hod HaSharon of Romanian-Jewish and Ukrainian-Jewish descent, Ziv studied at Ilan Ramon High School where he was part of a boyband. While doing his obligatory military service, he practiced in a musical band of the Education and Youth Corps Unit of the Israel Defense Forces. He studied communication sciences at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. In 2012, he auditioned for the inaugural edition of the television talent show The Voice Israel, singing "אהובתי" with 2 judges of four, Sarit Hadad and Rami Kleinstein turning their chairs. Being part of Team Rami, he proceeded to the Battle Rounds singing "פרפרים" and was eliminated by mentor Kleinstein who opted for advancing teammate rival Orit Shalom. Ziv performed as a backing vocalist in Israel's Eurovision Song Contest 2015 and 2016 entries, respectively with Nadav Guedj singing "Golden Boy" and Hovi Star singing "Made of Stars" with both qualifying to the finals. In 2016, he performed voice over in Hebrew for the 3D animated film Trolls. He participated in season 4 of HaKokhav HaBa L'Eurovizion, the reality singing competition "The Next Star for Eurovision", being the Israeli format of Rising Star. In the auditions on 2 and 3 January 2017, he performed "The Edge of Glory" from Lady Gaga, obtained 93% of the public vote and the approval of all judges Keren Peles, Harel Skaat (2010 Israeli Eurovision entrant) and duo Static / Ben-El Tavori. In the quarter-finals held on 30 and 31 January 2017, he performed "Rude Boy" from Rihanna earning 72% and approval from three judges and in the semi-final "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" from Aerosmith earning 95% and approval of all judges and qualifying for the finals. On the final on February 13, 2017, he first performed "Halo" from Beyoncé[citation needed] winning 78% of the public's votes and approval of all four judges. He followed it up with an interpretation of "Because of You" from Kelly Clarkson winning the contest with 74% approval rating. The finalist Diana Golbi finished runner-up with 67% and Julieta was third with 58%. After winning HaKokhav HaBa L'Eurovizion, Ziv will now represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. His song, "I Feel Alive", written by Dolev Ram and Penn Hazut will be released on 9 March 2017. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.