Abi Ofarim (born Avraham Reichstadt; 1937–2018) was an Israeli musician and dancer. He is best known for his work in the 1960s as half of the duo Esther & Abi Ofarim with his then-wife Esther Ofarim. Born in Safed, he trained as a dancer, performed on stage, and later worked as a manager, composer, arranger and record producer in Europe, where he spent much of his career and died in Munich in 2018.
Early career
Born in Safed in what was then Mandatory Palestine, Reichstadt attended ballet school after Israel's independence in 1948 and made his stage debut in Haifa in 1952. By the age of 17 he was arranging his own choreography, and by 18 he ran his own dance studio. He was later recruited into the Israeli army during the Suez crisis and the Sinai war.
Duo success in Europe
In 1958 he married Esther Zaied, and the two later performed together as the musical duo Esther & Abi Ofarim, with him playing guitar and singing backing vocals. The couple moved to Geneva and then to Germany, where their song "Morning of my Life", written by the Bee Gees, became a major success in 1967. In 1968 "Cinderella Rockefella" reached the top of the charts in several countries, including the UK. The duo separated in 1969.
Later work
After the duo ended, Ofarim continued performing and recording in Europe and worked as a manager, composer and arranger. In 1970 he founded the record production and music publishing company Prom Music. He also published a memoir, Der Preis der wilden Jahre, in 1982, and in 2014 he began a social project for elderly people in Munich.