Israel's IMRI is feeling alive as he heads to Kyiv

IMRI was born and raised near Tel Aviv and has been singing professionally from a young age, performing in many languages including English, Spanish and of course, his native Hebrew. 

In addition to singing, he also enjoys playing guitar and the piano, has studied acting and has provided various voice-overs in Hebrew for animations. 

IMRI is no stranger to the Eurovision Song Contest having provided backing vocals for Nadav Guedj's Golden Boy in 2015 as well as Hovi Star's song last year, Made of Stars. In early 2017 he won this year's Rising Star singing competition TV show, and the ticket to represent Israel in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. 

Music has always been a part of the young singer's life; "At the age of two I already knew the lyrics to Queen's We Are the Champions and I apparently sang it in front of my family and friends on every possible occasion", he said. What about just before he goes on stage though, does IMRI have a special routine? "I think I will adopt the routine which was used in the last two Eurovision Song Contests where we basically all stood in a circle, holding hands and singing a former Israeli Eurovision song, before going crazy and dancing to it!"

IMRI explained why the Eurovision Song Contest is important for him; "Ever since I was a little boy, I dreamed of singing on a big stage in front of millions of people. You can only imagine how much of an honour it is for me to be given the chance to perform at the Eurovision Song Contest, not to mention representing my country. As an artist, I think Eurovision is a big stepping stone in my career and I hope it will allow me to grow professionally and release my own songs soon."

You can follow all of IMRI's latest exploits on Instagram.