Biography

Achinoam Nini was born on the 23rd of June 1969 and is an Israeli singer-songwriter of Yemenite ancestry. She performs internationally under the name Noa, and performs and records in English, Hebrew, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Arabic. As a child, Noa was insecure, gaining self-confidence through the poetry that she wrote. She began composing songs when she was only eight. Noa's parents emigrated to the USA when Achinoam was two years old. Her growing up in New York is the subject of her recent song, Wildflower. She attended New York's High School of the Performing Arts.

At age 17, she returned to Israel on her own, serving in an IDF entertainment troupe for her two years of compulsory military service. She continued her music education at the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in Tel Aviv, where she met guitarist-composer Gil Dor, who would become her longtime collaborator.

Dor introduced Noa's work to jazz icon Pat Matheny, who helped her land a record deal with Geffen Records. In 1994, Geffen released Noa's self-titled U.S. debut, which was co-produced by Matheny himself. The album incluses a combination of English and Hebrew pop tracks (including the Hebrew track Mishaela), while her second US album Calling spawned international hits such as U.N.I, Too Proud, and Manhattan, Tel-Aviv. Noa continued to create albums for both the international and Israeli markets. She also became more involved with politics, attempting to bring peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

Noa found tremendous fame in France, wherein she performed quite often and recorded a duet, I Don't Know, with Flaurent Pagny. In 2001 Noa's "First Collection" album was released in Israel and is considered by many to be her unofficial Greatest Hits album. However, her most critically acclaimed album to date was "Blue Touches Blue", which received praise throughout Europe.

Among her appearances abroad, she performed her rendition of Ave Maria for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in 1994 and performed there again in 2000. Together with Gil Dor, she performed with the avant-garde Israeli dance troupe Mayumana at the show between the two final games of the 2004 European league basketball championship, broadcast to millions of viewers worldwide. In 2005, she took part in the Live 8 benefit concert at the Circus Maximus in Rome.

Achinoam Nini is married to pediatrician Dr. Asher Barak, and the couple have two children, Ayehli and Enea.


References:
Official Website Achinoam Nini
Wikipedia Achinoam Nini
Artist Direct – Michael Suttin, All Music Guide