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Showing posts with label Musicians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Musicians. Show all posts

Is Mitch Albom Jewish?

Yes, Mitch Albom is Jewish. The author known for his 1997 book about his dying college professor, Morrie Schwartz, is a practicing Jew. Albom was born May 23, 1958 in Passaic, New Jersey. Albom lived in Buffalo, New York for a little while, until his family settled in Oaklyn, New Jersey which is close to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He grew up in a small, middle-class neighborhood from which most people never left. He attended Akiba Hebrew Academy in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania around the same time as his friend and fellow author, Rabbi David Wolpe of Los Angeles.

Mitch Albom was once quoted as saying that his parents were very supportive, and always used to say, “Don’t expect your life to finish here. There’s a big world out there. Go out and see it.” His older sister, younger brother, and he himself, all took that message to heart and traveled extensively. His siblings are currently settled in Europe. Albom once mentioned that now his parents say, “Great. All our kids went and saw the world and now no one comes home to have dinner on Sundays.”

In addition to being a long time sports columnist for the Detroit Free Press, Mitch Albom also has a general opinion column in the Sunday edition of the Detroit Free Press, a popular weekday radio show in Detroit, and is a musician in a band. He has written several best selling novels following the success of "Tuesdays with Morrie," including a book called "Have a Little Faith" about his experience writing the eulogy for his childhood rabbi, Albert Lewis, of Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

In 1995, Albom married Janine Sabino, who is not Jewish. Albom and Sabino have attended Temple Israel, a reform synagogue in West Bloomfield, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan. He is the owner of the non-profit Detroit Water Ice in downtown Detroit.

Is Madonna Jewish?

Madonna is not Jewish. After her daughter Lourdes' birth, Madonna became involved in Eastern mysticism and Kabbalah, which is Jewish mysticism. She was introduced to Jewish mysticism by actress Sandra Bernhard in 1997. Although Madonna has been involved in the Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles and has made significant donations, albeit controversial ones, she is not Jewish as she was not born Jewish and did not ever convert to Judaism.

Is Lenny Kravitz Jewish?

Lenny Kravitz is a Half-Jew. Born Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz on May 26, 1964, Lenny Kravitz is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, actor and arranger, whose "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, soul, R&B, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk and ballads. In addition to singing lead and backing vocals, Kravitz often played all the guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and percussion himself when recording. He is known for his elaborate stage performances and music videos.

Kravitz was born in New York City on May 26, 1964. He is the son of Roxie Roker, an actress known for her character Helen Willis in the 1970s hit television sitcom The Jeffersons, and Sy Kravitz, an NBC television news producer. His father was from a Russian Jewish family. His mother was of Afro-Bahamian and African-American descent, and was from a Christian family. During his early years, Kravitz did not grow up in a religious environment. After a spiritual experience when he was thirteen, he started attending church, becoming a non-denominational Christian.

Kravitz identifies himself as a Christian in a religious sense, "through choice but I'm also a Jew, it's all the same to me". During another interview Kravitz stated, "I'm half Jewish, I'm half black, I look in-between."

Is Pete Seeger Jewish?

Pete Seeger was not Jewish. On January 27, 2014 Pete Seeger, died in New York City at 94.

Pete Seger, the American folk singer, was the author or co-author of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" (with Joe Hickerson), "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)" (composed with Lee Hays of the Weavers), and "Turn, Turn, Turn!", which have been recorded by many artists both in and outside the folk revival movement and are still sung throughout the world.

Seeger was born at the French Hospital, Midtown Manhattan. His Yankee-Protestant family, which Seeger called "enormously Christian, in the Puritan, Calvinist New England tradition", traced its genealogy back over 200 years. A paternal ancestor, Karl Ludwig Seeger, a physician from Württemberg, Germany, had emigrated to America during the American Revolution and married into an old New England family in the 1780s. Pete's father, the Harvard-trained composer and musicologist Charles Louis Seeger, Jr., established the first musicology curriculum in the U.S. at the University of California in 1913, helped found the American Musicological Society, and was a key founder of the academic discipline of ethnomusicology. Pete's mother, Constance de Clyver Edson, raised in Tunisia and trained at the Paris Conservatory of Music, was a concert violinist and later a teacher at the Juilliard School.

Seeger was one of the folksingers most responsible for popularizing the spiritual "We Shall Overcome" (also recorded by Joan Baez) that became the acknowledged anthem of the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement.

Pete Seeger first visited Israel in 1964 and spent time on an Israeli kibbutz -- several in fact. Seeger performed Israeli folk tunes with the Weavers in the 1950s as part of the larger folk revival he was helping to champion. And just two years ago, he recorded a video for the Jewish retreat center Isabella Freedman that recalls the three questions posed by the Jewish sage Hillel.

In 2011, after a report that Seeger supported a boycott of Israel, he acknowledged to JTA.org that he “probably said” he supported such a measure, but that his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were evolving. 

Is Jack Antonoff Jewish?

Jack Antonoff is Jewish. The guitarist and vocalist of the indie band fun. is Jewish and attended a Solomon Schechter Day School.


Antonoff grew up in New Milford, New Jersey and attended elementary school at the Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County, New Jersey. In high school he was a classmate of Scarlett Johansson, whom he dated from 2001 to 2002. There are rumors that he is dating Lena Dunham, the author and star of HBO's "Girls."

Antonoff has been a guest blogger for The Huffington Post where he has written in favor of gay rights and of the importance of straight allies.

Is Pat Monahan Jewish?

Pat Monahan is not Jewish. Born Patrick Monahan on February 28, 1969 in Erie, Pennsylvania, the singer-songwriter, musician and occasional actor is not a Jew. Monahan is the lead singer and songwriter for the band Train and has also recorded a solo album.


In the Train song "50 Ways to Say Goodbye", Monahan hand sings about his lover leaving him on Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of repentance. No word on why Monahan chose Yom Kippur to be used in the lyrics, but he is certainly not Jewish.

Is Chad Kroeger Jewish?

Chad Kroeger is not a Jew. While some might think Kroeger sounds Jewish, the Canadian songwriter, singer and guitarist was actually born Chad Robert Turton.


Kroeger is the lead vocalist and guitarist for the Canadian rock band Nickelback. He became engaged to marry Avril Lavigne in August 2012.