Dafna Dekel

Dafna Dekel (born on 7 May 1966, in Ashdod, Israel) is an Israeli singer, actress and television.

She was discovered while she served in the Israeli Army as a singer in the Nachal group through 1985 and 1986. Trying to “sell” her as a sex bomb, right after being signed Dekel’s agent sent the somewhat chubby girl to go on a diet and have a plastic surgery to fix her nose. After losing 16 kilos and having her nose fixed, Dekel was marketed as Israel’s newest star. At the time of her breakthrough Dafna was considered a Cinderella in the Israeli culture, being a Yemenite girl from the south making it in the army Nachal group and being discovered.
After being released from the army Dekel was cast to the Israeli musical Salah Shabati which was highly successful and was produced in honor of the 40th birthday of the country. Dekel was cast along with her band mate from the Nachal group, Reuven Lavi. The two were the stars of the Nachal at the time.
In 1989 she released her first self-titled album. Although the album had 4 songs written and/or composed by Dekel, her biggest hits were songs written for her by others. At the same year she participated in the 1989 children’s holiday show “Festigal” with the song “Ma kore li?” (what’s happening to me?) and also performed a Yemenite medley with other Yemenite Festigal participants such as Ofra Chaza and Margalit Tsanani.