Matti Caspi (; 30 November 1949 â 7 February 2026) was an Israeli composer, musician, singer, arranger and lyricist. He has been hailed as one of Israel's most beloved and prolific musicians.
His music was influenced by classical music, Brazilian and Latin music, jazz, rock, and other genres. Among the composers who inspired him most he cited Sasha Argov, with whom he recorded two albums.
As a child Caspi developed an interest in music after listening to Shmuel Gogol play the harmonica. He begged his parents for piano lessons, which had to be approved by the kibbutz. His first public appearance was at the age of 16, performing on Kol Yisrael's Teshu'ot Rishonot, a talent show for teenagers. He recorded a song, "LeiáºÂan Kippurim", the following year.
For his mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces he performed with the Southern Command Band. He formed a trio with two of his friends, Gadi Oron and Ya'akov Noy, called The Three Fatsoes. With this trio Caspi came out with his first big hit, "Ani Met" (I'm dying).
After Caspi's military service, The Three Fatsoes was renamed the They Don't Care trio. In the Yom Kippur War, he toured army bases along with Leonard Cohen, who arranged his 1974 song "Lover Lover Lover" with Caspi. During the 1970s 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" ( Song of the Dove).
Over the next few decades Caspi released dozens of records and collaborated with some of the most well known Israeli artists of the time: Shlomo Gronich, Ehud Manor, Yehudit Ravitz, and Shalom Hanoch, among others. His last album, Like in a Dance, came out in 2017.
Caspi released close to 1,000 songs, both remakes of older songs and original creations. Musicologist Tsippi Fleischer said:
He wrote lyrics for other Israeli artists and in some cases even worked as a producer, as he did for Riki Gal in 1996, both writing the songs and producing her album (I Love You More). At the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest, he also served as a conductor, leading the Netherlands' Metropole Orkest in his composition "Emor Shalom", performed by Chocolate, Menta, Mastik, which he also arranged.
Matityahu (Matti) Caspi was born in Kibbutz Hanita, Israel on 30 November 1949, and was of Romanian-Bessarabian ancestry. He studied piano at the conservatory in Nahariya.
After his military service he married Galia Superstein, whom he divorced in less than a year. In 1972 he met actress (Patty) Doreen Lubetzky. They married three years later and had two children, Brit (born 1981) and Bar (born 1985).
In 1990 Caspi separated from his wife and met Raquel Wenger. The couple emigrated to Canada and married in California in 1994. 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 and found him guilty of bigamy. The court imposed a six-month suspended sentence and a small fine. An appeal to the District Court failed, and in 2004 the original sentence was upheld.
In May 2025, Caspi revealed that he was suffering from cancer and subsequently cancelled all of his future concerts; and in July 2025 he launched a fundraiser to help pay for his medical care.
Caspi died of cancer at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv on 7 February 2026 at the age of 76.