Amir

Laurent Amir Khlifa Khedider Haddad (born 20 June 1984), better known as Amir Haddad, or simply as Amir, is a French-Israeli singer and songwriter. He took part in 2006 in the Israeli music competition Kokhav Nolad, released his album Vayehi in 2011 and was a finalist in French competition The Voice: la plus belle voix as part of Team Jenifer finishing third in the competition. He represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "J'ai cherché", which finished in 6th place. Haddad was born in Paris, France to Maghrebi Jewish parents from Tunisia and Morocco. He grew up in Sarcelles (Val-d'Oise) and immigrated to Israel in 1992 at the age of eight as part of Aliyah, the family settled in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv district. He sang as a young child in the synagogue and in various social events. Amir was born with a hearing loss of 50% and only hears out of his left ear. He came to fame in 2006 with his participation in the fourth season of the Israeli song competition Kokhav Nolad (in Hebrew כוכב נולד meaning A Star is Born), the Israeli equivalent of the Pop Idol held May to September 2006. He was the first candidate to sing mostly French language songs during the audition. He advanced for 4 stages before being eliminated. The series was won by Jacko Eisenberg. Not winning in the season, he finished his obligatory military service in the Israeli Defence Forces and continued his studies in dentistry in Hebrew University of Jerusalem graduating in 2012.…