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her life

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Her story:

In order to make this biography I combined the most credible stories and those facts that are known with certainty, for such reason I didn’t want to enter in details, by underlining only those facts that, to my seem, are of most importance in Dana's life.

Note: For a more extensive reading (and in English language, too) about Dana, her fame and her artistic trajectory, I strongly recommend to read Geir Skogseth’s ‘media section’ at his Dana International page.

Name: Sharon Cohen

Date of birth: 22.2.1972 (…as far as known)

Mother: Gali (o Bat-Galim) Profession: Housewife

Father: Eliyahu (1937) Profession: Court clerk  

Sister: Limor (1966) Niece: Eliya (1992)

Brother (hypothetical): Nimrod (1967)

Primary school: Tcharnehovsky

High School: Ironi Alef, together with the brothers Lior and Shmulik Sa’adia

Grown up in the vicinty: Kerem Ha-Teymanim

Height: 1.76m

Mascot: Leri (1994), a German poodle

Current residence: Central apartment in Tel-Aviv

Ex-boyfriend which is known with certain credibility: Nisim Bachar

They described her like an abomination, a misfortune, scandal, a public menace. In the beginning they said that she was a short boom, impure for those that are orthodoxe. A mother who continues calling her Yaroni... Known in the Arab countries like Sa'ida Sultana, this is Dana International:

1972: Dana (at that time Yaron) borns in Tel-Aviv within a humble family of Yemeni origin. He recives ihs name in honor to his/her uncle, assassinated in a terrorist attempt before she (he) was born.

1973: He celebrates his first year of existence! J

Dana, since very young, prefers to play with dolls and to dream to be famous, although his/her parents make fun of it.

1982: He makes part of the Kameri Theatre, one of the most famous theatres in Israel, and makes his first artistic appearance in the musical Yosef and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat (1986). Besides this he sang already in the municipal youth chorus of Tel-Aviv, too (1980).. what a lovely cutie sweetheart, can you imagine it?…

That same year he remains captured by the entry in the Eurovision Song Contest of Ofra Haza, his greatest idol, and decides that also he (she) will fight to arrive there.

Around 1987 Dana starts to discover the night life of Tel-Aviv; what makes her coincide with Ofer Nissim (a young DJ and founder of a music group called Drama) which sees into him/her an authentic talent.

1988: Dana and a friend, Shmulik Sa'adia, which in the future would accompany her during her fame as dancer together with his brother Lior Sa'adia, dances and attracts the attention of Ofer, which seeks for people for a spectacle of drag-queens. This one offers them to work with him and just after that they begin their shows in gay discotheques of Tel-Aviv and Eilat.

At the end of 1992: Ofer proposes himself to be centered artistically in Dana. Dana and Ofer begin their great musical career, Sa'ida Sultana is the first big success of this team that appears in the compilation album Super Mix 13 (IMP Dance).

At the beginning of 1993: Her fame increases considerably, Dana and Ofer receive offers from the United States from Arthur Brown, the author of the original song sung by Whitney Houston entitled My name is not Susan and parodied by Dana like My name is not Sa'ida. And to this country one goes to promote Sa'ida Sultana, a song that causes enthusiasm between the American public. It doesn't take much till she affirms her success and a second single becomes published with the title Danna International, from this moment on she publishes more themes that receive a great acceptance. This same year, in May and with her saved money, Dana is put under a not too very cheap sex-change operation in the United Kingdom (exactly in London which definitively transforms her into a woman (it's calculated that it costed around the 14.000US$).

In December 1993 Dana brings out her first album, titled, how not, Danna International (in which Ehud Manor, important musician in the Israeli panorama, writes for her a song). This CD lances her definitively to form part like one of the most remarkable figures of the Israeli music scene. It's mainly ethno-dance music with some occidental touches; a good album that sold around 16.000 copies during this year (only Israel). Dana is not longer a short boom.

1994: Dana is selected like The singer of the year '94 in the Beach Radio station and prepares a song to take part ath the Kdam-Eurovision, the equivalent to a preselection for the Eurovision Contest… During that, she continues to triumph with her songs and at the end of this year publishes her second album, Umpatampa, in which appears already the participation of two geniuses: Tzvicka Pik and Yoav Ginai, respectively the song writer and the author of DIVA between other songs.

1995: Dana appears already until in the soup, because Dana there is just only one! She makes echo even in Egypt, where her songs are sold at ransom prices on the black market. One of the songs to be mentioned of its recent album is Yeshnan Banot (There are some girls...), an old, very rhythmic military song.

P<She takes part for the first time at the Kdam Eurovision (Pre-Eurovision): The Israeli final in where the participant that will represent the above-mentioned country in the Eurovision Song Contest is choosed. She presents herself with the song Layla tov, Eropa (Good night, Europe) but her fate is the same as the one of the participation of Ofra Haza at the Euro-contest; she remains second. Her album Umpatampa exceeds already the imposing success of the first album, and manages to sell during one year more than 45.000 copies, gains this way a golden record, was almost the singer with more success in the lists of sales, manages to take part in the Eurovision and she even conquered the Egyptian public. Dana receives, in addition, the price of The singer of 1995 and publishes a new album: E.P.Tampa.

1996: She shoots an advertisement for a radio station (Reshet Gimel).

In the Arab countries (especially in Egypt) the authorities prohibit her albums, but the youth makes it all in order to obtain very expensive pirates copies on the black market. She receives the fame of misfortune (scandal), corruption, and they treat her like "singer of the prostitution". In spite of that, and of the censure of her records in Egypt, more than 6 million pirate copies of her albums were produced until half of this year illegally in Egypt and Jordan, from where they were then distributed to Syria, Morocco, Tunisia, the Gulf Kingdoms and even Saudi Arabia.

Dana leaves her old discographic company, IMP Dance (where she was the artist par excellence) and signs a contract with one of the most serious and significant companies of Israel, Helicon, and publishes in summer a new album, Maganuna. Being conscious of her fame in Egypt and, while taking consideration of the danger she passes, one goes to turn the video-clip of 'Maganuna' (Crazy) in front of the pyramids, that is also recorded for a TV program.

The name of Dana International arrives at the ears of the French fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, which undertakes a program called Eurotrash, sees in Dana the perfect election for the 'discoveries and phenomenons' section of his show. A TV-equipment moves to Israel in order to document 24 hours in the life of Dana, and the program is emitted through the British Channel 4.

Maganuna, an album of dance-pop style with ballades, ' 60 music, funk, is another great success of this spectacular singer.

1997: Dana focuses her career towards out of Israel, turns the video-clip of Cinque Milla that costs a budget of 15.000US$, (what a wild clip! J) that is then selected like the best video clip at the Haifa Movie Festival.

In spite of the great achieved fame, she continues to have the orthodoxe ones that insult her during her appareances and boycott her, but this doesn't worry to the Diva. It should be pointed out that Dana, since her beginning, had to face many obstacles, by considering the fact that the condition of being transsexual closed her the majority of the doors, therefore she had it very difficult, she had to show her gifts as artist initially and then receive the acceptance by the public, but she got it.

This same year she has also to appear in court because having attacked people during a show, and will be prosecuted by the law till after '98… Well.. nobody is perfect, not?