b. 1978, Paris, France. Born in the French capital to Sephardi-Jewish parents, Naim moved to Israel with her family at the age of four. She listened to pop and soul music as a teenager and began performing in public while still at school. After finishing her education at the Ramat Hasharon Conservatory of Music and completing a mandatory spell of national service in Israel, during which period she played with the Anti-Collision, Naim returned to Paris to pursue a music career. Her work with the Anti-Collision had brought her to the attention of EMI Records, which considered the young singer's vocals impressive enough to warrant signing her as a solo artist. Naim's debut, In A Man's Womb, was released in 2001 but this disjointed pop rock album found little favour on the charts.
Disillusioned, Naim continued to perform live but it was not until she teamed up with percussionist David Donatien in 2004 that she rediscovered the desire to write. Completed over the course of a three-year period, her self-titled follow-up became a major commercial success in France (where it was released in late 2007 on the T“t Ou Tard label). The album, which was performed almost entirely in Hebrew, was a beautifully crafted collection of textured dream pop, with Naim's exquisite vocals floating over the top. The unrepresentative but upbeat "New Soul" was used in a US television advertisement for the MacBook Air laptop, and on the back of this high profile placement the track shot up the US digital charts and even broached the mainstream Top 10 at the start of 2008.
DISCOGRAPHY: In A Man's Womb (EMI 2001)**, Yael Naim (T“t Ou Tard 2007)***.

Encyclopedia of Popular Music
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