AVIV GEFFEN

AVIV GEFFEN'S BIOGRAPHY.
AVIV GEFEN was born in May 10, 1973.in ramat gan. Son of Yonatan Geffen a famous writer and a poet .AVIV was special even as a baby;H was named after his grandmother Aviva who committed a suicide). He attracted attention for the first time when the nurse at the hospital told his mother (Nurit) with great honesty "I wouldn’t dare to have a baby consider you're family's history"(of course she had referred to the extensive drug use of the Geffen family, and a few family members who are known to suffer mental illnesses) And with a history such as this one, the nurses concerns are not entirely wrong (to say the least) .When that statement made her way to the headlines, Nurit said in comment "it is true that me and my husband have horrible genes together" ( in a sarcastic tone)
While growing up, Aviv was a very naughty, snappy, and hyper active child (above the ordinary standards) it seems like he had no fear once or ever. He would arrive to the hospital twice a week, with lots of weird injuries and bruises. I know of a few incidents that may "contribute" those injuries; for example: he use to seat in the pram backwards while his hands are "stroking" the sidewalk. Or when he was 6 years old, He walked upon flaming coals after watching an Indian movie. Needles to say he was rushed to the hospital, with a whole bunch of blisters decorating his feet. Furthermore until the age of 6 (including) he walked around with just a few teeth in his mouth, as a result of him not knowing what a fear of heights even means. Although his fearless acts Aviv had a soft heart, while all the kids use to laugh from cartoons such as "Tom And Jerry". Aviv cried if the mouse was eaten by the cat; something rather unusual among kids. He reveled an astonishing sensitivity for his age.
As the child of Yonatan Geffen it was inevitable not to be expose to music. Yonatan's closest friends were the top leading artists of that time (: shalom hanoch, Danni litany, and david broza).David Broza used to baby-sit Aviv and his sister Shira. During that time Aviv still was always the center of attention. but despite his great charm, His rebellious character, many pranks, and incapability of fitting in. denied people from discovering his great talent. Until David Broza baby-sat him and gave him private guitar lessons. This was in the perfect timing, Due to the many break ups of Aviv's parents. You might think that those break ups were negative. But it gave Aviv a lot to write about, In fact that’s when he wrote his first song "Boi Lakefar" (=come to the village).There he calls his mom to come back home, because he miss her. Moreover Aviv grew up with a lot of freedom; which turned out to be a bad thing, especially when Aviv reached adolescence the time to rebel against your parents (supposedly). He was very confused and angry. Because he had no one or nothing to rebel against, everything was permitted in the Geffen resident. Aviv claims that he saw the sunrise everyday at the age of 7.This kind of education caused Aviv to be restless, without boundaries, and socially banned. Due to growing up in a rather small and conservative village (moshav beit-itzhack). Parents at the village used to sign petitions preventing Aviv from going out to school neither trips, nor kids and nor parents wanted to associate with Aviv.
Although things seemed hopeless for Aviv. He met Nir Shapiner. He was the only kid who started talking to Aviv. And they became great friends, they would spend hours together playing music. They have formed a powerful connection. Nir was the only one who believed in Aviv's talent that time. And they started a band together "The Broken Hearts". They used to practice all the time, and even performed in front of small audiences. Their connection grew even stronger. In that year Aviv made his first television appearance (1984) at he television program "shminiot ba-avir" and he sung along with Nir the song written especially for his mother's birthday. Even though it was a short appearance you could really see his deep connection with his mother.
After handling that TV appearance in such a great manner; Aviv's parents started to support his music financially, and got him all the of the line music instruments. Furthermore, his mother got him a part in her friend's movie. The film called "hamitpahat" (= the handkerchief).The movie was about a young boy who is moving to the kibutz all alone and he doesn’t fit in, just like Aviv. On top of the movie role Aviv also wrote the soundtrack for the movie (at the age of 13!).Although in the movie he plays an excellent student. In real life thing were completely different. Aviv once again had troubles fitting in, which this time also expressed in his appearance. He had long hair, wore a chain out of pearls, and used to put make up. His only consolation was that him Nir were in the same boat. So they both kept each other safe, and shared high and low moments during that time. The highlight of that year was when he had a crash on his young English teacher. And decided to write her a love song, He sung that song in a party in front all of the students, parents, and teachers (although the banned him from doing so). That was the last straw and he got kicked out from school.
Afterwards his parents registered him to "Rimon" school, which is a school of music. The school was just perfect for Aviv. Although going to different schools, Nir and Aviv stayed friends, in fact they got even closer. They would catch a bus to tierias every two days and sleep at the shore of the kinneret, after playing music for hours. Once Aviv got to "Rimon" school, "Yediot Ahronot" has published an article about him (his first article ever). In that article Aviv tells about his unique lifestyle, HE mentions his trips to the kinneret and the fact that he started smoking at the 6th grade (and of course, his parents allowed him to do so). During school Aviv met Karin Ofir and they started dating. He admits that all that time he was busy loving her instead of actually study. But seems to be it didn’t affect on Aviv's way in becoming famous. During a concert in his school Nurit Galron (famous singer) noticed him; and was very impressed. Correspondingly his dad got him a meeting with Giora Kenneth (a musician). And Aviv started recording with him.
Two years later Nurit Galron still remembered Aviv. And when she started working on a new album, Aviv wrote a song for her "ata po haser li". At the age of 17 Aviv dropped from school and formed a band called "hatulim ba-tzaneret" (= cats in the gutter). They recorded a song called "haver" (friend), but it is hardly made it to the play list of the local radio station. But it didn’t stop them from performing in their very own concert. That performance got amazing reactions. Very quickly something was about to ruin Aviv's joy, When he got a mobilization order to the Israeli army. He was scared that it will hurt his musical career, But lucky for him the Israeli army found him unfit. Because a rare back problem he suffered from. This led him to a dangerous 36 hours surgery. Needless to say he got permanent immunity from the army.
Due to his free time he got a part in the series "inyan shel zman" (=matter of time). And in Tzuri mimon's movie "naarei ha-hof" (=beach boys). Those roles were a huge exposure for Aviv and his music not to mention a good source of income. In fact when he got enough money, he and "hatulim ba-tzaneret" made another concert that impressed the right people in the industry. And he signed a contract with "hed-artzi" a big label in Israel. Everything was perfect for Aviv. He was on his way to fulfill his long time dream of him and Nir.
One morning, Aviv got a phone call from his manager. And he said to him with grief " Nir was killed last night in a car accident, there were two passengers, they both died". That was a devastating thing to hear for Aviv. At that night he walked right up to the piano and wrote the song "good night Nir". About His long time friend who got killed. But unfortunately it was not the end of it for Aviv, a few weeks later his girlfriend Karin Ofir broke up with him. With all that in mind, Aviv started drinking alcohol, hang around in pubs and to wonder in the streets of tel aviv. Never the less his parents got divorce. Aviv reacted to it in a harsh and extreme way.
About six months later, Aviv was interviewed to "Yedihot Aharonot". In that article he talks about the military and says "it's good to die for ourselves" (paraphrase of a famous expression "it's good to for our country"). And the entire article was on that note; this created a huge media storm including personal insults on Aviv. All of the country was in shock regarding his words. People demand to ban his songs from the radio right away. Three months later Aviv admitted he has made a mistake in a similar article in "Yedihot Aharonot". From that point Aviv has labeled as a trouble maker. He got invited to many shows in television; due to his unique character and courage. Meanwhile the band changed their name to "ha-Tauyot" (=the mistakes). After all the scandals vanished. Aviv released his first CD "Ze Rak or Ha-Yareah" (=it's just the moonlight). So the band started to perform in "Roxen" this brought them a lot of fans for the first time. In one of their performances Aviv met a girl named Ilana Berkovic who fell for his charm, and he two of them started dating.
When Aviv released his second album "achshav meunan" (=it's cloudy now). But this album was accompanied with scandalous video clips, for example in the song entitled "bohe al ha-kever" (=crying over a grave). In this song's video clip there are harsh images of graves and suicide scenes. Again he created provocation and once again his name appeared on all the papers. Everyone knew that his here to stay. Although Aviv's reputation was getting worse in every minute, something very important happened to him that year socially. After he wrote his famous song "livkot- leha" (= cry to you). That was dedicated to Nir. Arik Einstein (famous singer, and song writer) wanted to recored this song, that meant a lot to Aviv it was a social stamp he needed so bad. The unique combination made Aviv look not so bad after all.
After Aviv rode a few months on his success, And after dozens of concerts. He took a much needed break, due to his demanding audience and the huge effort. The media jumped on the opportunity and called it a "retirement from the music industry". But Aviv only took a break, to put an end to the media frenzy, Aviv wrote a letter that was published where he said that it is only temporary. And if his fans really do love him then they will wait for him. Although he took a break he won that year in many prizes. Including "composer of the year" and the "golden album" award.
When Aviv returned to music after several of weeks. He started recording a new album without his band, all alone. He wanted to get as intimate as possible. The album was very sad, with a lot of ideas about suicide and songs about mental illnesses. The album was very much successful, but his main idea took its toll.
A lot of teenagers started to develop negative suicidal thinking. And commit suicide. Aviv was devastated he felt a huge responsibility all of the sudden. Teenagers wrote him endless heart breaking letters that drained him emotionally. The hospitals received a lot of patients, due to Aviv's songs. They even called that phenomenon "Aviv casualties". Aviv said loud and clear that he is against suicide, and he is against any kind of violence even towards yourself.
After writing two more albums, Aviv recorded his fifth album in London. For everyone's surprise (Aviv is known for his fear of flights). When he finished the
album there was a song in it called" shumakom"(= nowhere). Who created yet another scandal when he wrote in the song "who goes there? It is the drunken prime minister". And of course, everything solved at the end. After his appearance in the Dan Shilon show, where he met with Yitzhak Rabin and sorted everything live in
.front of the whole nation
Then Aviv wrote two more albums. Nowadays, Aviv is one of the most important and popular artists in Israel. He's huge concerts got him both young and adult fans. He's "bad boy" image calmed down, so as his fans who got less hysterical and violent.
Also, he avoids provocations as possible. Without a doubt Aviv came a long road from bring a rejected child, to a popular important artist in Israel (and in some cities in Europe). And got a loyal community of fans called "the moonlight children". These are the fans whom was with Aviv from day one. And they're children are now listening to Aviv's music. If that is not success, then I don’t know what success is.