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Mordechai Ben David
Mordechai Werdyger (Hebrew: מָרְדֳּכַי ווֶרְדִּיגֶר; born April 16, 1951) is an American Israeli Hasidic Jewish singer and songwriter who performs under the stage name Mordechai Ben David (Hebrew: מָרְדֳּכַי בֶּן דָּוִד, romanized: Mordocháy Ben-Davíd, lit. 'Mordecai, son of David') or simply MBD. He has released over 46 albums while performing internationally. He has headlined at charity concerts, especially those of HASC and Ohel.
MBD was one of four sons born to David Werdyger, a hazzan (cantor) from Kraków who survived the Holocaust. MBD was a soloist on a number of his father's albums, which combined classic Hasidic niggunim (melodies) with cantorial vocals and classical instruments. Even so, his shyness and introversion caused him to be less inclined than his three cantor brothers to sing in public. Even much later in life, MBD has voiced his aversion to cantoring.
MBD began his musical career during a time when hazzanut was the main source of recorded music in Orthodox Jewish circles, with very few solo singer-performers. He was inspired by Ben Zion Shenker and Shlomo Carlebach, who in the early 1960s had pioneered a genre rooted in Hasidic and American folk music.
MBD's first concert performance was in 1972, when friends cajoled him to open for the musical group Ohr Chadash at Brooklyn College. At the event, for which he earned $50, MBD sang a few of his father's songs and some of the material from his own first album Mordechai Ben David Werdyger Sings Original Chassidic Niggunim. Noticed by a record producer, MBD was then invited to open for Yigal Calek and his London School of Jewish Song. The stage name Mordechai Ben David (lit. 'Mordechai, son of David') was suggested by a friend as a way for MBD to bolster his own career by connecting it to his father's notoriety.
For his next albums, MBD began to seek out the services of talented arrangers and composers. For 1974's Hineni, MBD worked with composer Yisroel Lamm of the Neginah Orchestra, which ushered in the beginnings of MBD's trademark sound. The title track was based upon a request from Esther Jungreis on behalf of her Hineni outreach organization. 1975's Neshama Soul benefitted from the talents of Mona Rosenblum, an Israeli arranger who had recently worked with MBD's father, thereafter opening up MBD's music to an international audience. At this point, MBD's musical trajectory was altered somewhat through the efforts of Chaim Zanvl Abramowitz—the Ribnitzer rebbe— who encouraged him to temper the modern and Israeli aspects of his music with a more traditional Hasidic singing style. The result was 1977's I'd Rather Pray and Sing, the title track of which was written by the rebbe's wife Freida Milka. The idea for the prayerful V'chol Ma'aminim - Songs of Yomim Noraim came one Saturday in 1978 when Suki Berry and David Nachman Golding ("Suki & Ding") heard the title track being sung during the seudah shlishit meal in their yeshiva. They hurried over to Jerusalem's Binyanei Hauma, played the song on a piano for MBD—who was scheduled to go on stage there—and offered to help produce a High Holy Days concept album. After the album was released, they became aware that the title track's melody had actually been composed by Shlomo Carlebach for his rendition of "Tov L'hodot". MBD also worked with Moshe Laufer, Yossi Green, Boruch Chait, Abie Rotenberg, Hershel Lebovits and Nachman Klein. He has also collaborated with musicians Yaron Gershovsky (director of the Manhattan Transfer), Daniel Freiberg and Ken Burgess.
Together with producer Sheya Mendlowitz, in 1981 MBD produced Avraham Fried's first solo album, entitled No Jew Will Be Left Behind. That same year, Mendlowitz was involved with two of MBD's releases: Mordechai Ben David Live (his first live album) and Memories, which was written in memory of his mother. This album also featured a number of songs composed by Yerachmiel Begun of the Toronto and Miami Boys Choirs. Over the following next few years, Mendlowitz and MBD jointly produced a number of hit albums together, including: his MBD & Friends (1987), Mostly Horas (1987), Yisroel Lamm & The Philharmonic Experience (1988), and 25 Years of Jewish Music (1988). Mendlowitz went on to produce Werdyger's Simen Tov - Keitzad (single album) (1989), and The Double Album (1990). He has also appeared on albums produced and sung by his son Yeedle, and brother Mendy. He has appeared on a number of "All Star Cast" albums produced by Suki & Ding, Gideon Levine, and Avi Fischoff.
MBD's single "Yachad Shivtei Yisrael" was composed in honor of the 2012 Siyum HaShas. A single composed for the Days of Awe, "Nekom", was released in 2015. In June 2017 he released the album Tzeaka including soloists Motty Steinmetz and Nussi Fuchs.
MBD records in his private studio in Sea Gate, Brooklyn.[citation needed] He has been called the "King of Jewish Music" and the "Jewish Michael Jackson". As of June 2004[update], his album sales have exceeded one million units. As of November 2022[update], he has recorded 46 albums and participated in 40 album collaborations.
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Mordechai Ben David
Mordechai Werdyger (Hebrew: מָרְדֳּכַי ווֶרְדִּיגֶר; born April 16, 1951) is an American Israeli Hasidic Jewish singer and songwriter who performs under the stage name Mordechai Ben David (Hebrew: מָרְדֳּכַי בֶּן דָּוִד, romanized: Mordocháy Ben-Davíd, lit. 'Mordecai, son of David') or simply MBD. He has released over 46 albums while performing internationally. He has headlined at charity concerts, especially those of HASC and Ohel.
MBD was one of four sons born to David Werdyger, a hazzan (cantor) from Kraków who survived the Holocaust. MBD was a soloist on a number of his father's albums, which combined classic Hasidic niggunim (melodies) with cantorial vocals and classical instruments. Even so, his shyness and introversion caused him to be less inclined than his three cantor brothers to sing in public. Even much later in life, MBD has voiced his aversion to cantoring.
MBD began his musical career during a time when hazzanut was the main source of recorded music in Orthodox Jewish circles, with very few solo singer-performers. He was inspired by Ben Zion Shenker and Shlomo Carlebach, who in the early 1960s had pioneered a genre rooted in Hasidic and American folk music.
MBD's first concert performance was in 1972, when friends cajoled him to open for the musical group Ohr Chadash at Brooklyn College. At the event, for which he earned $50, MBD sang a few of his father's songs and some of the material from his own first album Mordechai Ben David Werdyger Sings Original Chassidic Niggunim. Noticed by a record producer, MBD was then invited to open for Yigal Calek and his London School of Jewish Song. The stage name Mordechai Ben David (lit. 'Mordechai, son of David') was suggested by a friend as a way for MBD to bolster his own career by connecting it to his father's notoriety.
For his next albums, MBD began to seek out the services of talented arrangers and composers. For 1974's Hineni, MBD worked with composer Yisroel Lamm of the Neginah Orchestra, which ushered in the beginnings of MBD's trademark sound. The title track was based upon a request from Esther Jungreis on behalf of her Hineni outreach organization. 1975's Neshama Soul benefitted from the talents of Mona Rosenblum, an Israeli arranger who had recently worked with MBD's father, thereafter opening up MBD's music to an international audience. At this point, MBD's musical trajectory was altered somewhat through the efforts of Chaim Zanvl Abramowitz—the Ribnitzer rebbe— who encouraged him to temper the modern and Israeli aspects of his music with a more traditional Hasidic singing style. The result was 1977's I'd Rather Pray and Sing, the title track of which was written by the rebbe's wife Freida Milka. The idea for the prayerful V'chol Ma'aminim - Songs of Yomim Noraim came one Saturday in 1978 when Suki Berry and David Nachman Golding ("Suki & Ding") heard the title track being sung during the seudah shlishit meal in their yeshiva. They hurried over to Jerusalem's Binyanei Hauma, played the song on a piano for MBD—who was scheduled to go on stage there—and offered to help produce a High Holy Days concept album. After the album was released, they became aware that the title track's melody had actually been composed by Shlomo Carlebach for his rendition of "Tov L'hodot". MBD also worked with Moshe Laufer, Yossi Green, Boruch Chait, Abie Rotenberg, Hershel Lebovits and Nachman Klein. He has also collaborated with musicians Yaron Gershovsky (director of the Manhattan Transfer), Daniel Freiberg and Ken Burgess.
Together with producer Sheya Mendlowitz, in 1981 MBD produced Avraham Fried's first solo album, entitled No Jew Will Be Left Behind. That same year, Mendlowitz was involved with two of MBD's releases: Mordechai Ben David Live (his first live album) and Memories, which was written in memory of his mother. This album also featured a number of songs composed by Yerachmiel Begun of the Toronto and Miami Boys Choirs. Over the following next few years, Mendlowitz and MBD jointly produced a number of hit albums together, including: his MBD & Friends (1987), Mostly Horas (1987), Yisroel Lamm & The Philharmonic Experience (1988), and 25 Years of Jewish Music (1988). Mendlowitz went on to produce Werdyger's Simen Tov - Keitzad (single album) (1989), and The Double Album (1990). He has also appeared on albums produced and sung by his son Yeedle, and brother Mendy. He has appeared on a number of "All Star Cast" albums produced by Suki & Ding, Gideon Levine, and Avi Fischoff.
MBD's single "Yachad Shivtei Yisrael" was composed in honor of the 2012 Siyum HaShas. A single composed for the Days of Awe, "Nekom", was released in 2015. In June 2017 he released the album Tzeaka including soloists Motty Steinmetz and Nussi Fuchs.
MBD records in his private studio in Sea Gate, Brooklyn.[citation needed] He has been called the "King of Jewish Music" and the "Jewish Michael Jackson". As of June 2004[update], his album sales have exceeded one million units. As of November 2022[update], he has recorded 46 albums and participated in 40 album collaborations.
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