Biography

Aviv Geffen (Hebrew: אביב גפן, born 10 May 1973) is an Israeli rock musician, singer, songwriter and the son of writer and poet Yehonatan Geffen and Nurit Makover, brother of actress Shira Geffen, and an alumnus of Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music. In addition to his solo career, Geffen is a founding member of the band Blackfield, he was also the global music director for WeWork.

Geffen was and is extremely popular among Israeli youth who were known during the 1990s as the "Moonlight Children" (ילדי אור הירח). Politically, he associates with the Israeli left. His music deals with subjects such as love, peace, death, suicide, politics, and the army (in particular, the IDF). He is often criticized for singing about the IDF while not having served, though he was discharged for medical reasons. Aviv Geffen was born in Ramat Gan and raised in Beit Yitzhak. He is the son of the author and poet Yehonatan Geffen and brother to actress Shira Geffen. He was named after his late grandmother, Aviva Geffen.

Geffen's first public performance was in 1984, in the Israeli youth program "Shminiyot Ba'Avir" ["somersaults"] on the Israeli Channel 1, in which he sang the song "You're Only 40 Years Old" for which his sister wrote the lyrics and he composed the melody. In 1987 Geffen participated in the amateur film "Ha'mitpahat" (The Handkerchief), for which he wrote and sang the song "Ima" ["Mom"].Although a great-nephew of the legendary Israeli General and former Defense Minister, Moshe Dayan, Geffen refused enlistment in the mandatory Israeli military service, claiming conscientious objector status. He had previously advocated that Israeli youth should likewise refuse military service and criticized Israel for being "a paranoid country where people think they always have to be strong."In 1996 Geffen married Israeli actress Ilana Berkowitz. The couple divorced in 1998.

In 2005 Geffen married Shani Friedan after a seven-year relationship. The couple's first son was born in 2007.

Geffen is an atheist.