Yaakov (Kobi) Ventura (later Kobi Oshrat) was born in
Haifa to parents who had immigrated from
Salonika. Oshrat achieved international fame when his composition, "Hallelujah", sung by the Israeli group
Milk and Honey, won the Eurovision Song Contest 1979. Oshrat has written more than 1000 songs, but "Hallelujah" is his most famous, with 400 cover versions of it around the world. Oshrat also composed and conducted the
1985 and
1992 Israeli entries. He conducted the
1987 and
1991 Israeli entries but did not write the music for them. ==See also==