עפרה חזה

Bat-Sheva Ofra Haza-Ashkenazi, known professionally as Ofra Haza (Hebrew: עפרה חזה‎; 19 November 1957 – 23 February 2000) was an Israeli singer, actress and Grammy Award-nominee recording artist, commonly known as "The Israeli Madonna", or "Madonna of the East". Her voice has been described as a "tender" mezzo-soprano of near-flawless tonal quality, capable of lending itself to a variety of musical styles with apparent ease. It is thought likely that Haza's voice had the most upper harmonic overtones of any singer in history, reaching as many as thirty-two on some songs. She has been named as the greatest Israeli artist of all time as well as the most successful Israeli artist ever One article placed Haza as the number one female vocalist of the twentieth century, followed by Maria Callas, Mahalia Jackson, Whitney Houston, Karen Carpenter, Ella Fitzgerald, Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, Mariah Carey and Aretha Franklin. Overall critics have often described Haza as one of the greatest voices of all time. Haza's music is known as a mixture of traditional and commercial singing styles, fusing elements of Eastern and Western instrumentation, orchestration and dance-beat. She became successful in Europe and the Americas; during her singing career, she earned many platinum and gold discs.