Biography
Ishay Ribo (Hebrew: ישי ריבו; born February 3, 1989, in Marseille, France) is a Sephardic Orthodox Jewish Israeli singer-songwriter whose heartfelt, spiritually rooted pop-rock songs have crossed religious and secular divides to become mainstream hits. He immigrated to Israel with his family (of Moroccan and Algerian descent) at age eight, grew more observant, and began writing and composing songs as a teenager before teaching himself guitar.
He released his debut album Tocho Ratzuf Ahava (His Inside Is Lined with Love) in 2014, which went gold. Follow-up albums Pachad Gevahim (2016, gold) and Shetach Afor (2018, platinum)—featuring the massive hit “Lashuv HaBaita” (“Coming Home,” tens of millions of views)—cemented his status. Later releases and collaborations (with artists ranging from Idan Raichel and Omer Adam to Avraham Fried and Motty Steinmetz) broadened his audience further. He has headlined major venues, including becoming the first Israeli artist to headline Madison Square Garden (2023), and remains one of Israel’s most unifying and commercially successful religious music voices, with multiple gold/platinum certifications and broad radio and streaming dominance.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.