Svika Pick

Pick with his first wife Mirit Shem-Or, 1986

Henryk (Zvi) Pick was born in Wrocław, Poland, to Jewish parents, Paulina (1930–2010) and Borys Pick. His grandfather was the head of a music school, and his uncle was a music professor. At the age of five, Pick studied classical music. In 1957, his family immigrated to Israel. Pick studied music at the Conservatory of Ramat Gan, and started to perform in local Israeli rock bands at the age of 15.

Pick married Israeli songwriter Mirit Shem-Or, with whom he has a son, and two daughters; Sharona and Daniella, who have performed together as the Pick Sisters.[5] Shem-Or wrote the lyrics for many of Pick's hits, including "Mary Lou", which was about her. After they divorced, they continued to collaborate artistically. Sharona is married to Israeli hotelier Daniel Federmann, son of businessman Michael Federmann, while Daniella is married to the American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino.[6]

Pick was also in a relationship with Israeli fashion designer Shira Manor, with whom he had two sons, Tim and Neal.[7]

In the 1980s, Pick played football for Hapoel Yehud and Hapoel Nir Ramat HaSharon.[8]

In 2018, EL AL flight from London to Tel Aviv was diverted to Vienna after Pick suffered a stroke.[9] He later stated that he had to go extensive rehabilitation afterwards, including relearning Hebrew and his ability to walk.[10]

Pick performing in front of soldiers in Beit HaHayal at Tel Aviv, 1972

In 1972, he entered a tune for the Shema prayer in the Chassidic Song Festival. The tune violated Jewish law by repeating lines of the prayer.[11]

Pick was one of Israel's leading pop singers in the 1970s, and was named “Israeli male singer of the year” by Kol Israel every year from 1977 to 1980. He played a lead part in the Hebrew version of the musical Hair in the early 1970s.[12]

In 1998 Pick wrote the song "Diva" with lyricist Yoav Ginai and performed by Dana International, which won the Eurovision Song Contest. He also wrote songs for several other Eurovision contestants. In 2002 he reunited with Ginai to write the "Light a Candle" for Sarit Hadad, who represented Israel in Eurovision 2002. That year, Habima Theater staged a musical called Mary Lou based on Pick's old hits.[13] In 2009, this musical was made into the television series Tamid Oto Chalom (or Mary Lou), directed by Eytan Fox.

Pick as a judge on Kokhav Nolad in 2008

In 2003, he composed the song "Hasta la Vista" with Shem-Or, to whom he was married at the time, for Oleksandr Ponomaryov, Ukrainian entrant in Eurovision 2003. He also wrote a song for the Belarusian contestant of Eurovision 2005, Angelica Agurbash, but she later decided on a different one, acknowledging Pick for his effort. He competed seven times in the Israeli preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2010, he composed an entry for Harel Skaat for Israel, and for Sopho Nizharadze for Georgia.

From 2005–2009, Pick was one of the judges for the singing reality show Kokhav Nolad (the Israeli version of Pop Idol) that aired on Channel 2.[14]

In 2005, Pick starred in the docu-reality series HaMaestro that aired on Bip and followed the daily lives of him and his family.

In 2009, the musical drama series Tamid Oto Chalom aired on HOT 3. Pick's songs were used for its title and soundtrack, and he guest starred in one of the episodes.

• Music of Israel
• Culture of Israel
• Television in Israel

• Svika Pick at IMDb
• Svika Pick discography at Discogs