Rika Zarai born 19 February 1938

Rika Zaraï (19 February 1938 – 23 December 2020) was a Franco-Israeli singer and writer. She sang in Hebrew, English, French, Italian, Spanish and German. She lived in Paris but visited Israel periodically. 

Rika Gozman (later Zarai) was born in Jerusalem. Her father came from Odessa (now Ukraine) in the Russian Empire, and her mother from Valozhyn (now Belarus), then in Poland.  From the age of 7, she took piano lessons, and proved to be gifted and hardworking. She thus won, at the age of 17, the first piano prize at the Jerusalem Conservatory. Academically, she obtained a teaching license for disabled children. 

She enlisted directly in the Israel Defense Forces, a year before her compulsory service would have drafted her. She attended the Jerusalem Music Conservatory where she obtained a first prize in piano. During her 18 months of army service, she was appointed producer of the entertainment troupe of the IDF Central Command. The Israeli writer, Aharon Megged, wrote a musical for the IDF Central Command entertainment troupe about five soldiers falling in love with five country girls. In 1956, it was produced commercially by the Ohel theater starring Rika Zarai. The music was written by her husband Yochanan Zarai, with lyrics and melodies by Naomi Shemer. 

Her artistic career began, she was just 19 years old. She began by performing in café-theatres, interpreting the texts of French singers in Hebrew. This gained her notice by an impresario who suggested that she go to France to introduce herself to the manager of the Olympia, Bruno Coquatrix. The latter advised her to come back when she has mastered French. Rika Zaraï, who by this time was separated from her husband, lived through difficult months, having to meet the needs of her young child. 

Her recording career finally started when she met Eddie Barclay, who produced the greatest French performers. She recorded under one of her labels, Bel Air, with which she remained until 1965, songs that would become hits like Hava Naguila , a cover of a Hebrew folk song . During these years, she opened for Jacques Brel at the Olympia, signed with Philips, met her future husband, the musician Jean-Pierre Magnier, and toured extensively, starring Gilbert Bécaud. She also released her first big hits, including Casatschok.. She went on to have a successful career in Europe, where she popularized the Israeli songs. 

                              

On November 9, 1969, she was the victim of a car accident. The singer sank into a coma for six days and remained immobilized in a cast for eight months. Doctors believed that she would no longer be able to walk. However, by  determination and patience, with the help of her friend Raymond Dextreit, a follower of natural medicine, she recovered the use of her legs after three years. It was during her painful convalescence that Rika composed, as a snub to her suffering, the song Balapapa, with joyful lyrics and which would be a great success. 

Recovered, she found her way back to the studios to record new hits such as Tante Agathe , Ma Poupee de France,  Sans chemise, Sans culottes, and performed many times on the Olympia stage, from… March 1970. Throughout her career she was awarded five gold. In the early 1980s, she released one more album, Tout va très bien, then in 1983 she left her record company Philips. 

She then stopped her music career and promoted herbal medicine by publishing a series of books, some of which, like My Natural Medicine (Editions Carrère/Michel Lafon, 1985), were great successes in bookstores. But her foray into natural medicine (by selling plants in supermarkets) was challenged by the Council of the Order of Pharmacists and she found herself, on January 10, 1989, charged with complicity in the illegal practice of pharmacy. The case, which ended in a dismissal, is widely reported in the media, affecting its image.. After publishing other books in the 1990s and continuing to study health, she returned to singing in 2000 with the album Hava. She sang at the Queen in Paris in 2000, and the oriental version of Hava nagila was successful in nightclubs where she sang until 2004. 

In 2006 she published her memoirs, Hope is always right (Michel Lafon, 2006). Then, in 2008, she celebrated her 50-year career in song, with the release of a new album, Quand les hommes, mixing covers of Georges Brassens and Yves Duteil, and unreleased songs. But on July 3, 2008, she suffered a serious stroke. After five years of rehabilitation, she released a double album, Anthologie 1960-1982, which highlighted her rich career during which she sold more than 29 million records. 

On February 3, 2020, twelve years after her stroke, she sang in public during the Night of the Depression party organized by Raphaël Mezrahi at the Folies Bergère in Paris. She died 10 months later  23 December 2020 (aged 82)

(Edited from Edward Pflimlin article @ Le Monde & Wikipedia)