Matti Caspi

Biography

Caspi was born in 1949 in Kibbutz Hanita in the Upper Galilee, and is of Romanian ancestry on his grandfather's side. He studied piano at the conservatory in Nahariya.

After his military service he married Galia Superstein, and in less than a year they divorced. In 1972 he met actress (Patty) Doreen Lubetzky, and three years later they got married. They had two children, Brit (born 1981) and Bar (born 1985).

In 1990, following marital difficulties, Caspi separated from his wife and met Raquel Wenger. The new couple emigrated to Canada. The two married in 1994 in California. They had two children, Suyan (born 1992) and Sean (born 1995). Caspi was granted a divorce by the Beverly Hills Rabbinical Court, although at the time the case was still pending in Israel. In 1997 Caspi returned to Israel and appeared in several concerts, including the Arad festival. In 2002, a Tel Aviv court determined that he was still legally married to Doreen at the time he married Raquel in 1994, and found him guilty of bigamy, and imposed a six months suspended sentence and a small fine. An appeal to the District Court failed, and in 2004 the original sentence was upheld.

Musical career

For his service in the army, he served as a performer in the Southern Command Troupe. He formed a trio with two of his friends, Gadi Oron and Ya’akov Noy, called The Three Fat Men. With this trio Caspi came out with his first big hit, Ani Met (I am dying).

After his service this trio became the They Don’t Care trio. In the Yom Kippur War he toured army bases along with Leonard Cohen, who arranged his song Lover, Lover, Lover with Caspi. During the 70s he worked closely with Ehud Manor, another Israeli songwriter, and released some of his most popular songs: Lo Yadati SheTelchi Mimeni (I Didn’t Know You Would Leave Me), Brit Olam (Covenant of Love), and Shir HaYonah (The Song of the Dove).

Over the next few decades, Caspi had a prolific musical career, released dozens of records and collaborated with some of the biggest and most well known Israeli artists of the time: Shlomo Gronich, Ehud Manor, Yehudit Ravitz, and Shalom Hanoch.

He has released several more albums, of which the latest is Nefesh Te´oma (Soul Mate) released in 2010.

Caspi has released close to 1,000 songs, both remakes of older songs and his original creations. His musical style is well known, especially for his harmony and popular writing style. Musicologist Tzipi Fleischer said:

With some Israeli artists (chiefly Riki Gal), he not only took on the role of composer, but also of the producer. For Riki's 1996 album Ohevet otcha yoter (I Love You More), he took responsibility for complete production and also songwriting.

Discography

Caspi has released dozens of albums in the decades he has been working in the Israeli music industry. A list of some of his albums follows.