Ram Ephraim "Rami" Fortis, or simply Fortis, is an Israeli rock singer. Born in Tel Aviv, Fortis became known as a pioneer of Israeli punk rock. His debut albumPlonter, released in 1978, was not a commercial success at the time, though today it is considered an influential cult album. His fame in Israel came with the release of a Hebrew language album, Sipurim Me'hakufsa , in 1988. Due to his behaviour on stage he was nicknamed The Madman. Apart from his work in music, Rami Fortis served as a judge for the first season of The X Factor Israel.
Biography
Rami Fortis is of Iraqi-Jewish and Italian-Jewish origin. He served in the 1973 Yom Kippur war and was influenced by his experiences at the front. He began his musical career in 1975 as a lighting-man in the shows of Tamuz - one of Israel's prominent rock groups at that time. The band would get him on stage to sing one or two songs in their concerts. His 1978 debut album, Plonter, is considered a breakthrough in Israeli music. It was regarded as one of the wildest and noisiest albums ever to be recorded in Israel, way ahead of its time. Influenced by such artists as The Clash, Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop and The Ramones, it was characterized by topics and a style that were unfamiliar and unconventional in Israel at the time. A group of his Tel Aviv friends, guitar playerBerry Sakharof, bass playerMalka Spigel & singer/ poet Samy Birnbach formed Minimal Compact in 1981 in Amsterdam. The band established itself as an alternative rock band in Europe, signing to Belgium's Crammed Records label, making two albums and adding drummer Max Franken. In 1984 Fortis was asked to join and stayed with them up to the first split in 1988. He was part of the line up which produced the band's two best known albums: Deadly Weapons produced by Tuxedomoon's Peter Principle and Raging Souls produced by Wire's Colin Newman. He went on to tour with them extensively in Europe and Japan. Minimal Compact remain notable as the first Israeli band to have gained considerable success outside of the country. They had a song included in Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire soundtrack and had covers designed by Neville Brody and Russell Mills. On his return to Israel in 1988, Fortis recorded his second album, Sipurim Mehakufsa, a collaboration with Berry Sakharof which has been described as "the best thing to happen to Israeli Rock". Later albums included a collaboration with Mashina's Shlomi Bracha. Since 2004 the collaboration with Berry Sakharof has been revived with the re-formation of the duo Fortisakharof. When fortisaharof disbanded fortis started a new band, first with drummer/producer yuval shafrir, then joined by Oren kaplan on guitar and amir Rosinano "jango" on bass. The band was named "fortis brothers" and it recorded two LP's , "cop, criminal and the whispering giant" and "where are the horses ?" at their own studio "FAFA" near the Carmel market with sound engineer dadi tal that also mixed both albums. Fortis resides in Beit Yitzhak and is married to Naomi, director of the Batsheva Dance Company. In 2008, Fortis was featured on the documentary movieOn the Move about Ehud Banai and the Refugees. In 2011, Fortis released an album called The Friend I, influenced by Nikola Tesla. The album was produced by his band that consisted of guitarist ido agmon, bassist gil smetana and drummer yuval shafrir, it was recorded and mixed by yuval shafrir at his studio in Tel Aviv.
