From: Favorite Hunks & Other Things
Beautiful huh! Harel Skaat is an Israeli singer who first got noticed when he was the runner-up of the second season of Kokhav Nolad ("A Star is Born", an Idol-like series show) in 2004.
Harel Skaat (Hebrew: הראל סקעת, born 8 August 1981) is an Israeli singer and songwriter. He represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "Milim" ("מילים", "Words").
Skaat has been singing and performing in public since he was a child. At the age of six, he won a children's song festival competition. While still in elementary school he appeared on national television and as a teenager, he was the lead singer for both his city's and high school's bands. During his mandatory duty with the Israeli Defense Forces, he sang in the Communication Corps Band. Skaat's professional breakthrough came when he was a contestant on the second season of Kochav Nolad ("כוכב נולד", "A Star is Born"), a reality competition television show similar in format to American Idol, and finished in second place. After the show ended, he signed a recording contract with Hed Arzi, one of the largest music companies in Israel.
His debut album, the self-titled Harel Skaat, was released in July 2006. It produced five hit singles, including the romantic ballad, "Ve'at" ("ואת", "And You"), which was the number one song of the year on both of the major Israeli year-end Hebrew song charts. The album has been certified platinum in Israel. He followed up the album with a concert tour, which surpassed 200 concert shows, a milestone in Israeli music.
In early 2008, Skaat and Hed Arzi became embroiled in a year-long legal dispute. Shortly after the dispute was resolved, he entered into a new agreement with Aroma Music and Partner Communications and recorded his second album entitled Dmuyot (דמויות, Figures). The album was released in September 2009 and has been certified gold in Israel.
Generally classified in the media as a pop singer, Skaat has been influenced by a wide variety of music, and his albums have featured an eclectic mix of songs, from rock to romantic ballads. His singing and performing talents have been widely praised by critics and Israeli music industry professionals, but his albums have received only mixed reviews. All of the songs on his official albums and EP have been sung in Hebrew, but Skaat has occasionally sung in English and in French in live concerts; he is currently working on a new album, which will be recorded in English. In December 2009, the Israel Broadcasting Authority selected Skaat internally to be Israel’s representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. The contest was held in Oslo, Norway, in late May 2010 and Israel placed 14th out of 39 entries.
In a documentary first broadcast on Israeli television in October 2010, Skaat stated that he is gay. The statement came after years of public speculation about Skaat's sexual orientation and after a controversial public outing by Israeli film producer and gay activist, Gal Ochovsky, after Skaat performed at a July 2010 memorial to mark the one-year anniversary of an attack on a Tel Aviv gay youth center.
In June 2010, Skaat purchased an apartment at one of the Arlosoroff Towers, a pair of planned commercial and residential high rise buildings in Tel Aviv's Ayalon Triangle. Skaat has been actively involved with charities aimed at children with disabilities. For recreation, he sometimes likes to engage in high thrill activities, such as skydiving, bungee jumping, and rafting.
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