Eden Ben Zaken

Eden Ben Zaken is one of Israel’s premier music stars. Awarded the Israeli Woman of the Year Award for an incredible three years running, she has also won numerous other awards for her musical success, including various Singer of the Year awards. Her debut album, 2015’s Queen of the Roses, was certified gold after notching up over 65,000 physical and digital sales. The follow-up album, 2016’s Believe Me, went platinum within weeks of its release. She is the first Israeli singer to have gained 20 million YouTube views for a music video — a figure that seems small-fry now that her official channel on the platform has well over half a billion views. In late 2020, she recorded a duet with the most unlikely of singers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to help raise funds and awareness for the country’s elderly who’ve been affected by the Covid pandemic.

Born in Jerusalem in 1994, Ben Zaken first came to prominence in 2013 when she appeared as a contestant on X Factor Israel (having previously been rejected by rival show Kohav Nolad). She eventually finished runner-up in the competition, but her career had truly been launched. After collaborating with Israeli music giants ethnix in 2014, she released her debut single in 2015. It was, however, with her second single, the title track from her debut album, that she hit the jackpot, as the song became a chart and streaming success. She has never looked back.

As well as giving back by duetting with Netanyahu, Ben Zaken also had the chance to pass on the benefit of her experience when she was invited to become one of the judges on X Factor Israel,the show that made her name.