Tzvika Pick
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Tzvika Pick sometimes written as Svika Pik, Tsvika Pick (Hebrew: צביקה פיק, b. Henrik October 3, 1951 in Wrocław, Poland) is an Israeli pop composer and singer. His career peak was in the seventies, when he was elected many times as Israeli male singer of the year and his stardom took unprecedented dimensions on a national scale.
Pick studied music at the Conservatory of Ramat Gan and started to perform at the age of 15. He is best known in Israel for a long list of pop hits throughout the seventies. In the early seventies he played a lead part in the Hebrew version of the musical Hair. [1]In the eighties, when the taste of the Israeli public changed from pop to rock, his career took a dip. But in the nineties his hits emerged again in dance music arrangements and he composed a song that won the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2002 Habima Theater presented the musical Mary Lou based on Pick's old hits.
Pick wrote the song Diva performed by Dana International, which won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998. He also wrote songs for several other Eurovision contestants. In 2002 he composed the song Light a candle for Sarit Hadad, who represented Israel in Eurovision 2002. In 2003 he composed the song Hasta la vista for Oleksandr Ponomaryov, Ukrainian entrant in Eurovision 2003. He also wrote a song for Belarusian contestant of Eurovision 2005 Angelica Agurbash, but she later decided on a different song. Pick himself competed seven times in the Israeli preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest (the Kdam Eurovision), but never won.
Pick was married to Israeli songwriter Mirit Shem-Or. Shem-Or wrote the lyrics for many of Pick's hits, including Mary Lou, which was about herself. They are now divorced but the couple still collaborates artistically. They have three children. Two of his daughters have performed duos as the Pick Sisters. During seasons 2005-2008, Pick was one of three judges on a TV talent show, Kokhav Nolad ("A Star is Born"), a show similar to American Idol.
