Hovi Star

Hovav Sekulets (Hebrew: חובב סקולץ‎; born 19 November 1986), better known by his stage name Hovi Star (Hebrew: חובי סטאר‎), is an Israeli singer.[1] He represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016[2] with the song "Made of Stars" by Doron Medalie.[3]

Hovi Star
Hovi Star in 2016
Background information
Birth nameHovav Sekulets
Born (1986-11-19) 19 November 1986
Haifa, Israel
OriginIsrael
GenresPop
Occupation(s)Singer, Songwriter, Composer, Voice Actor, Host
InstrumentsVocals
Years active2006-present
Websitehovistar.com
Hovi Sekulets during Kokhav Nolad (2009)

Career

Sekulets was born in Haifa. At 6, he started in music career by attending auditions for children in Israel. During his obligatory military service, Star was a member of the IDF Band for three years.

In 2009, he took part in season 7 of Kokhav Nolad, the Israeli version of Idol competition broadcast from May to August 2009 as Hovi Star, and finished seventh overall. In the same year Star also took part in the "Children's Song Festival" in Israel with his self-composed song "Little boy, big boy".

The following year he was invited back to Kokhav Nolad to present 'Star Live' - a behind-the-scenes show about the series for online platform MAKO, and also appeared as an expert guest on 'Ha Boker Shel Keshet' to comment on the participants.

During this time he continued his music career with various releases such as "Playing dangerous" and "Boyfriend" before deciding to take a break from music for a year outside of Israel. On return to his homeland, Hovi released "W.S.I.L." and began touring with music groups and solo acts all over the world for the next three years, performing in many countries worldwide. As a songwriter, Star has composed for other Israeli singers such as Liel Kolet ("Red Lines"), Or Bar ("Sorry", "Glass Doll", "One Hug Too Many"), Megior Biton ("Girls' Night") and Barak Tamam ("Live").

He has also been a voice actor in a number of Hebrew dubbed versions of film releases, including: Lego, Inside Out, Lucky Duck, Frozen Fever, My First Dragon 2, Paddington Bear, Maya the Bee, Batman, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Nut Job, Geronimo Stilton, CJ The DJ, among others.[4]

In 2016, Star took part in the Israeli production of "the Little mermaid" as the "star of the sea," a role written especially for him.

Eurovision Song Contest

In 2015, he took part in HaKokhav HaBa La'Eirovizion, the selection process for choosing the Israeli representative to Eurovision Song Contest winning the show's title. He represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm with the song "Made of Stars."

At Eurovision, Star performed fourth in the second semifinal on May 12 and qualified to the final in seventh place. In the Grand Final on May 14, Star performed from position #7 and finished #14 overall - seventh on the professional jury voting, receiving 12 points from Germany.

Personal life

Star is a trained hairstylist and makeup artist. He is openly gay.[5]

In April 2016, he reportedly suffered a homophobic incident in Moscow airport while he was on a tour to promote his Eurovision entry. Star said Russian border police officers tore up his passport, laughed at him and humiliated him presumably for being gay and for his attire and makeup.[6]

Discography

As lead artist
Title Year Peak chart positions Album
ISR SWE
[7]
"משחק באש" (Playing with Fire) 2009 —— Non-album singles
"בויפרנד" (Boyfriend) 2010 ——
"Something That I Want"
(with Alon Sharr)		 2014 ——
"Made of Stars" 2016 593
"Silver Spoon" 2019 ——
Title Year Album
"W.S.I.L"
(Nimrod Gabay featuring Hovi Star)		 2011 Non-album single

References
  1. Mako: התעוררתי ככה בבוקר (in Hebrew)
  2. Paul Jordan. "Hovi Star to represent Israel in Stockholm". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  3. Mako: יש לנו זוכה: חובי סטאר ייצג את ישראל באירוויזיון בשוודיה (in Hebrew)
  4. "Bio - hovistar.com". www.hovistar.com. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
  5. Gallagher, Robyn (10 April 2016). "Hovi Star at Eurovision in Concert: "I'll serve it, bitch"". Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  6. Israel Eurovision entrant ‘suffers homophobic incident at Russia airport’, Metro, 23 Apr 2016.
  7. Hung, Steffen. "Discography Hovi Star". Swedish Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Nadav Guedj		 HaKokhav HaBa winner
2016		 Succeeded by
Imri Ziv
Preceded by
Nadav Guedj
with "Golden Boy"		 Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest
2016
 Succeeded by
Imri Ziv
with "I Feel Alive"
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