Origin Acre, Israel Role Singer Name Lina Makhul | Labels Helicon Records Years active 2013–present Record label Helicon Records | |
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Born 11 July 1993 (age 31) ( 1993-07-11 ) Similar People Elkana Marziano, Old Man River, Kathleen Reiter, Mosh Ben‑Ari, Shlomi Shabat | ||
Lina, born as Leena Courtney Makhoul (also written as Makhul) is an international Singer-songwriter. She was born in the United States, and is of Palestinian heritage.
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Makhoul was born to Arab Christian engineers in Toledo, Ohio, USA on July 11, 1993. Since the age of 4 Leena, who grew up in Acre, Israel, loved dancing, playing the piano and singing. Growing up, she became fluent in five languages and went on to make history as the first Arab to win Israel's biggest TV show, The Voice through the people’s vote.
Audition
In an audition for the second season of the TV show The Voice Israel in late 2012, Makhoul sang Empire State of Mind by Alicia Keys and joined the mentoring team of Shlomi Shabat. In the program she also sang a cover version of the song Autumn Leaves (Arabic version, originally by Fairuz) obtaining the vote of all mentors. Within three days of her first appearance on The Voice, she had a quarter of a million views on YouTube, a gigantic number for a country the size of Israel.
Finals
On 23 March 2013, Makhoul won the final in the Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv with 62% of the vote, having performed What A Feeling, theme song of the movie Flashdance. Along with her mentor Shlomi Shabat, she performed a song written and composed by him with his daughter singer Manor Shabat. She also sang Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. She was approached by International Israeli-born manager Irit TenHengel who signed her to her label, Yodan Productions.
2016
Her first single "This Ain't About You" was released worldwide on the 29 April 2016. The track achieved a top 10 in the UK Music-Week's Club and Pop Charts. Her second single "Dance Sucker" rose even further to #4 in the UK Music Week's Official Club Chart, reflecting her growing international success.
2017
Single "Dance Sucker" was released as a preview of Lina’s new album Walking On A Tightrope due for release in 2017. The track was produced by Grammy Award winner Jerry Wonda and Tal Forer. The album is believed to feature songs written by some of the world’s most successful Songwriters and includes "Tightrope", co-written by Lina and Karen Poole (David Guetta / Janet Jackson / Kylie Minogue) and the revered writer-producer and Grammy Award winner Eliot Kennedy (Spice Girls / Take That). Lina is currently working with writers such as Brit Award Nominee Maegan Cottone (Demi Lovato / Iggy Azalea / Britney / Little Mix), Hiten Bharadia (Craig David / Lemar / Omi / Tiesto) and Knightstarr (Anne-Marie / Janelle Monae).
Queen & Adam Lambert
In September 2016 Lina was selected as the opening act for the band Queen + Adam Lambert in Tel Aviv. The concert was held at Park Hayarkon and she performed in front of an audience of 51,000 people.
Alicia Keys Support
In December 2016 Lina covered "Holy War" by Alicia Keys, releasing an online video of the song that included her own ethnic influences. The video was discovered by Alicia, who shared it on her own Instagram, Facebook and Twitter pages.
Little Mix Opening Act
In September 2017, Lina announced on her social media pages that she would be supporting British girl-group Little Mix on their upcoming UK & Ireland leg of The Glory Days Tour for all 37 arena dates from October-November 2017.