Noam Kaniel
Encyclopedia
Noam, full name Noam Kaniel (born August 18, 1962 in Israel) is a singer and composer, who has sold over 8 million records , and is known for composing or performing the theme songs of many animated series including X-Men
, Goldorak, The Mysterious Cities of Gold
, Heathcliff
and Code Lyoko
, to mention just a few.
Noam began singing at the age of 8 in Israel, taking second place in a children's singing contest organized by his future most frequent collaborator, producer Haim Saban
, in partnership with Yuda Talit.
While in Israel, he went on to record such major hit songs as "Gali" and "Ima Sheli"; during this period, he performed continuously.
By 1972, at the height of the Yom Kippur war, young Noam was spotted singing in front of soldiers by Mike Brant
who was France's biggest selling artist at the time. Brant believed that Noam could have a successful career in France, and had convinced Haim Saban to move there to look for, record, produce and supervise potential hit songs.
Noam's first release, "Difficile de Choisir", went straight to the top of the charts. From 1972 to 1978, this was followed in succession by such hits as "Viens Maman on Va Danser", "Une Maman", "Lollipop" and other singles. Two subsequent albums followed.
In 1975, Kaniel released an album in Japan in which he sang all 12 tracks in Japanese. This resulted in his headlining a concert tour, first in Tokyo, then in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Three years later, Noam recorded France's first-ever major theme song for an animated cartoon show. The 1978 production Goldorak was the first anime
series to be telecast in France. Noam's performance earned him unprecedented celebrity status in France; by the time Goldorak had ended its original run on French TV, its theme song had sold over 4 million copies.
At the end of 1978, Noam Kaniel moved to Los Angeles, following Haim Saban
and his partner Shuki Levy
. Together, with Saban and Levy as composer/producers, and Noam usually handling lead vocals, the three artists recorded theme music and/or songs for some of the most popular international animated series of the 1980s --- notably, Entrechats, The Fantastic Four, Superman, The Incredible Hulk, and, most famously of all, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
and its spin-off, She-Ra: Princess of Power
. Levy and Saban later brought Noam together with Filmation
founder Lou Scheimer
and his daughter Erika
to record "I Have the Power," title song from the 1985 series pilot The Secret of the Sword, which subsequently received U.S. theatrical distribution.
In 1980, Kaniel made his acting debut in an Israeli film, Kohav Hashahar (Morning Star), in which he portrayed an aspiring teen singer who tries to help his fisherman father out of ruin.
In 1988 he recorded and released "My Butterfly," which he wrote with his friend Alain Garcia. The song was a tribute to Noam's wife Kira, who had died of terminal cancer, at the age of 23. Shortly after "My Butterfly" was released, Kaniel abandoned his acting career, making scant appearances on French and Israeli TV.
In 1995, he took a sabbatical to return to his first real love, songwriting. To date, he has written and/or produced material for such French music stars as Mireille Mathieu, Patricia Kaas, Ophelie Winter, Hélène Ségara, Patrick Fiori, Lorie, Julie Zenatti and Lâam.
In 1998, Noam teamed up with Johnny Williams and Louis Element to create MIRANDA, a mix of technopop and dance fusion that took the European charts by storm. Miranda's first single, "Vamos A La Playa" was sold over 2,000,000 copies worldwide, and was honored as Best Italian Artist of the Year.
In the next decade, Noam Kaniel returned to writing music for animated television and theatrical films.
Kaniel's theatrical film scores include:
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
, Goldorak, The Mysterious Cities of Gold
The Mysterious Cities of Gold
abbreviated MCoG, is a Japanese-French animated series co-produced by DiC Entertainment and Studio Pierrot. The series premiered in Japan on NHK on May 1, 1982 and ran weekly for 39 episodes until its conclusion on February 5, 1983...
, Heathcliff
Heathcliff
Heathcliff may refer to:* Heathcliff , a comic strip about a cat of the same name** Heathcliff , a cartoon based on the above comic strip, produced by Ruby-Spears...
and Code Lyoko
Code Lyoko
Code Lyoko is a French animated television series created by Thomas Romain and Tania Palumbo. The series centers on boarding school students Jeremie, Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd who travel to the virtual world of Lyoko to fight against multi-agent computer program XANA with Aelita, a being originally...
, to mention just a few.
Noam began singing at the age of 8 in Israel, taking second place in a children's singing contest organized by his future most frequent collaborator, producer Haim Saban
Haim Saban
Haim Saban is an Egyptian born Israeli-American television and media proprietor. With an estimated net worth of $3.5 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 104th richest person in America.-Biography:...
, in partnership with Yuda Talit.
While in Israel, he went on to record such major hit songs as "Gali" and "Ima Sheli"; during this period, he performed continuously.
By 1972, at the height of the Yom Kippur war, young Noam was spotted singing in front of soldiers by Mike Brant
Mike Brant
Mike Brant was an Israeli pop star who achieved fame after moving to France. His most successful hit was "Laisse-moi t'aimer"...
who was France's biggest selling artist at the time. Brant believed that Noam could have a successful career in France, and had convinced Haim Saban to move there to look for, record, produce and supervise potential hit songs.
Noam's first release, "Difficile de Choisir", went straight to the top of the charts. From 1972 to 1978, this was followed in succession by such hits as "Viens Maman on Va Danser", "Une Maman", "Lollipop" and other singles. Two subsequent albums followed.
In 1975, Kaniel released an album in Japan in which he sang all 12 tracks in Japanese. This resulted in his headlining a concert tour, first in Tokyo, then in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Three years later, Noam recorded France's first-ever major theme song for an animated cartoon show. The 1978 production Goldorak was the first anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series to be telecast in France. Noam's performance earned him unprecedented celebrity status in France; by the time Goldorak had ended its original run on French TV, its theme song had sold over 4 million copies.
At the end of 1978, Noam Kaniel moved to Los Angeles, following Haim Saban
Haim Saban
Haim Saban is an Egyptian born Israeli-American television and media proprietor. With an estimated net worth of $3.5 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 104th richest person in America.-Biography:...
and his partner Shuki Levy
Shuki Levy
Shuki Levy is a music composer and television writer, director, and executive producer. Levy's best known work is soundtrack compositions for children's television programs of the 1980s, such as Inspector Gadget, The Mysterious Cities of Gold, M.A.S.K., Dinosaucers, Dragon Quest, He-Man and the...
. Together, with Saban and Levy as composer/producers, and Noam usually handling lead vocals, the three artists recorded theme music and/or songs for some of the most popular international animated series of the 1980s --- notably, Entrechats, The Fantastic Four, Superman, The Incredible Hulk, and, most famously of all, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is an American animated television series produced by Filmation based on Mattel's successful toy line Masters of the Universe...
and its spin-off, She-Ra: Princess of Power
She-Ra: Princess of Power
She-Ra: Princess of Power is an American animated television series produced in 1985 by Filmation. It is a spinoff of Filmation's highly successful He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series, aimed primarily at a young girls' audience to counter-balance the latter show's popularity with boys...
. Levy and Saban later brought Noam together with Filmation
Filmation
Filmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live action programming for television during the latter half of the 20th century. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1963...
founder Lou Scheimer
Lou Scheimer
Louis Scheimer is an Emmy and Grammy Award–winning American producer, one of the original founders of Filmation, an animation company, and also an executive producer of many of its cartoons .-Career:Early in Filmation's history, Scheimer also contributed...
and his daughter Erika
Erika Scheimer
Erika Scheimer is an occasional voice-actress in the cartoons of the defunct Filmation animation-studio. She is the daughter of Lou Scheimer, who was an integral member of Filmation and a voice actor in his own right....
to record "I Have the Power," title song from the 1985 series pilot The Secret of the Sword, which subsequently received U.S. theatrical distribution.
In 1980, Kaniel made his acting debut in an Israeli film, Kohav Hashahar (Morning Star), in which he portrayed an aspiring teen singer who tries to help his fisherman father out of ruin.
In 1988 he recorded and released "My Butterfly," which he wrote with his friend Alain Garcia. The song was a tribute to Noam's wife Kira, who had died of terminal cancer, at the age of 23. Shortly after "My Butterfly" was released, Kaniel abandoned his acting career, making scant appearances on French and Israeli TV.
In 1995, he took a sabbatical to return to his first real love, songwriting. To date, he has written and/or produced material for such French music stars as Mireille Mathieu, Patricia Kaas, Ophelie Winter, Hélène Ségara, Patrick Fiori, Lorie, Julie Zenatti and Lâam.
In 1998, Noam teamed up with Johnny Williams and Louis Element to create MIRANDA, a mix of technopop and dance fusion that took the European charts by storm. Miranda's first single, "Vamos A La Playa" was sold over 2,000,000 copies worldwide, and was honored as Best Italian Artist of the Year.
In the next decade, Noam Kaniel returned to writing music for animated television and theatrical films.
Kaniel's theatrical film scores include:
- Touch of a Panda (2009)
- Shattered Image (1994) (TV)
- Under Investigation (1993) (V)
- Til Death Do Us Part: Part 1 (1993)
- Round Trip to Heaven (1992)
Discography
- 1974 Dessine-moi le bonheur
- 1974 Difficile de choisir
- 1975 Une maman
- 1975 Viens maman on va danser
- 1976 Lollipop
- 1976 Prends cette rose
- 1977 Rien ne vaut le mercredi
- 1978 Goldorak
- 1978 Le Retour de Goldorak
- 1979 Albator 78
- 1979 The Incredible Hulk
- 1979 Spider-ManSpider-ManSpider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
, l'araignée - 1979 SupermanSupermanSuperman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
- 1980 Aime (French version of Fame)
- 1980 The Fantastic Four
- 1980 Shérif... Fais-moi peur !
- 1982 Buck Rogers in the 25th CenturyBuck Rogers in the 25th Century (TV series)Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is an American science fiction adventure television series produced by Universal Studios. The series ran for two seasons between 1979–1981, and the feature-length pilot episode for the series was released as a theatrical film several months before the series aired....
- 1983 The Mysterious Cities of GoldThe Mysterious Cities of Goldabbreviated MCoG, is a Japanese-French animated series co-produced by DiC Entertainment and Studio Pierrot. The series premiered in Japan on NHK on May 1, 1982 and ran weekly for 39 episodes until its conclusion on February 5, 1983...
- 1985 La Chanson des entrechats
- 1985 Les Entrechats sont là
- 1986 Popples
- 1986 M.A.S.K.M.A.S.K.M.A.S.K. is an animated television series directed by several uncredited Japanese studios, KK C&D Asia, Studio Juno, Studio World, Ashi Production , and produced by the French-American DIC Enterprises, Inc and also the toyline of the same name sold by Kenner.-History:A total of 75...
- 1988 My Butterfly (song dedicated to Kira Kaniel, who died of terminal cancer)
- Mighty Morphin Power RangersMighty Morphin Power RangersMighty Morphin Power Rangers is an American live-action children's television series based on the 16th installment of the Japanese Super Sentai franchise, Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger. Both the show and its related merchandise saw unbridled overnight success, catapulting into pop culture in mere months...
- X-MenX-MenThe X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
- Dare-dare Motus
- la Vie des Botes
- BéCéBéGé
- Diplodo
- La lucarne d'Amilcar
music composition for series
- 2001 Pig City - Theme and original score
- 2001 L'odyssee - Theme and original score
- 2002 Sacre Andy 2 - Theme and original score
- 2003- 2005 W.I.C.T.H X 2 - Theme and original score
- 2004 Gadget et le Gadgetinies - French Theme
- 2004 Les Tofous - Theme and original score
- 2004 Alien Bazar X 2 - Theme and original score
- 2004 Code Lyoko - Interprete of the English version (Canal J / France 3, titre: A World without Danger)
- 2004 Martin Myster - Theme
- 2005 Action Man ATOM - Theme and original score
- 2006 POP Secret - Theme and original score
- 2006 Les 4 Fantastiques - original score
- 2007 Combo Ninos - Theme and original score
- 2007 (M)onster (B)uster Club - generique
- 2008- 2011 In Ze Boite X 4 - Theme and original score
- 2008- 2011 Casper X 2 - Theme and original score
- 2008-2011 GORMITI x 3 - original score
- 2009 Sweet Power - Generique - société de production ZAGTOON, source : http://zagtoon.com/
- 2010 TARA DUNCAN - original score
- 2010 Rekkit Rabbit - Theme and original score
- 2011 Power Rangers Samurai - Theme and original score - Nickelodeon US (Canal J/ Gulli)
- 2012 The Mysterious Cities of Gold II - Original background music (TF1)