Amir Haddad

Amir Haddad עמיר חדד
Haddad in 2016
Background
Birth name	Laurent Amir Khlifa Khedider Haddad
Born	(1984-06-20) 20 1984 (age 35) Paris, France
Origin	Israel
Occupation	Singer, songwriter
Years active	2006–present
Label	Warner Music France
Associated acts	Patrick Bruel
Website	http://amirhaddadofficial.com/

Laurent Amir Khlifa Khedider Haddad (born 20 June 1984 in Paris, France), 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.

Early life

Haddad was born in Paris, France to Sephardic Jewish parents from Tunisia and Morocco. He grew up in Sarcelles (Val-d'Oise) and immigrated to Israel in 1992 at the age of 8 as part of Aliyah residing 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 the left side.

2016–present: Eurovision, Europa and Au cœur de moi

In 2016 he was selected by French public broadcaster France 2 to represent France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden. Amir's song was chosen internally by France 2 by a committee headed by France 2 entertainment director Nathalie André and the newly appointed French Head of Delegation for the Eurovision Song Contest Edoardo Grassi after having received 280 submissions. The song titled "J'ai cherché" is co-written by Amir himself, Nazim Khaled and Johan Errami and contains lyrics in a bilingual mix of French and English.

France 2 had originally planned to reveal the entry on 12 March 2016, however, information that Amir would represent France at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was leaked on 25 February 2016 during the D8 talk show programme Touche pas à mon poste!, hosted by Cyril Hanouna. "J'ai cherché" was edited and remixed by Skydancers and Nazim Khaled at the request of the French broadcaster since the song exceeded three minutes in its original version, which had already been released as the first single from Amir's forthcoming album. The entry was formally presented to the public on 12 March 2016 during the France 2 programme The DiCaire Show, hosted by Véronic DiCaire.

The song finished 6th overall in the grand final with 257 points, France's best placing since 2002 and the country's highest-scoring entry in their contest history. He released his second studio album Au cœur de moi on 29 April 2016, the album has peaked at number 6 on the French Albums Chart and has been certified double platinum, the album has also charted in Belgium and Switzerland, earning a gold certification in Switzerland. "On dirait" was released as the third single from the album on 29 August 2016. The song has peaked at number 15 on the French Singles Chart. "Au cœur de moi" was released as the fourth single from the album on 6 February 2017.

He joined Stéphane Bern and Marianne James as a commentator for France 2 at the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kyiv on May 13.

He represented France in the second edition of the Europa Song Contest with the song "Au cœur de moi in Oldenburg, Germany.

Personal life

On 7 July 2014, Amir married Lital, his longtime companion in Israel.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Awards and Nominations

v t e France in the Europa Song Contest   Participation 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8   Artists 1-10 Aurélie Preston Amir Malo' Petite Meller Tal   Songs 1-10 "All We Have" "Au cœur de moi" "I Believed" "Argentina" "Mondial" (Note: Entries scored out are when France did not compete since their debut)

v t e Europa Song Contest 2   Countries Final Sweden (winner) Malta Lithuania Hungary Czech Republic United Kingdom Norway Kazakhstan Lebanon Poland Austria Italy Azerbaijan FYR Macedonia Belarus Germany Denmark Finland Ukraine France Israel Bulgaria Greece Slovakia Estonia Russia Semi-finals Semi-final 1 Armenia Belgium Faroe Islands Iceland Ireland Latvia Slovenia Semi-final 2 Croatia Moldova Romania Netherlands San Marino Serbia Spain Turkey   Artists Final Mariette Ira Losco Greta Zazza Spoon 21 Olga Lounová Harry Styles Elsa & Emilie KeshYOU The5 Gromee & Mahan Moin Rose May Alaba Enrico Papi Laleh Adelina Tahiri Nuteki Zedd & Julia Michaels Rikke Skytte Evelina Svetlana Loboda Amir Nofar Salman Galena Demy Katarína Knechtová Púr Múdd Sergey Lazarev Semi-finals Semi-final 1 1991 & July Jones Birgir Gaya Arzumanyan & Sevak Hanagyan Laura Lo & Chris Oak Lost Frequencies Steso The Script Semi-final 2 Ceynur Chiara Galiazzo DJ Duran & Katty S Kraantje Pappie DJ Llp & Irina Popa Ruža Sandra Afrika & DJ Denial X Tany Vander   Songs Final "A Million Years" "We are The Soldiers" "Like I Love You" "Deák" "Time to Shine" "Sign of The Times" "Endless Optimism" "Ruchti Aru" "Heya Kida El Haya" "Runaway" "Love Me Right" "Mooseca" "Colors" "Dale Kadale" "Take My Heart" "Daisy" "Color My World" "Kylmii Väreitä" "Your eyes" "Au cœur de moi" "I'll Wait for you" "Moro Mou" "You Fooled Me" "FEA" "The Way It Goes" "Lucky Stranger" Semi-finals Semi-final 1 "All or Nothing" "Ayayi Erkir Artsakh" "Heartstrings" "Last For Long" "Little Weird" "Lummagud" "Superheroes" Semi-final 2 "Adio" "Come, Come, Come" "Kafa Açma" "My Remedy" "Neke Dane" "Pompen" "Siamo adesso" "Take Me Away"