Amir Haddad

**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

 *Vayehi* | * Released: 2011
* Label: N/A
* Format: Digital download, CD
* Label: Warner Music Group
* Format: Digital download, CD
 "—" denotes an album that did not chart or was not released.

## Awards and Nominations

 MTV Europe Music Awards