| The Portnoy Brothers | |
| Origin: | Manchester, England |
| Genre: | Pop rock, folk rock, soul, R&B |
| Years Active: | –present |
| Current Members: | Israel Portnoy Mendy Portnoy |
The Portnoy Brothers are a British–Israeli folk rock duo formed in 2014 by Manchester-born brothers Israel Portnoy (born 1990; vocals, guitar) and Mendy Portnoy (born 1992; keyboards). Their debut album, as The Portnoy Brothers, Learn to Love, was released independently on 23 September 2016. On 29 March 2019 they released "The Garden Sessions" EP.
Israel "Sruli" and Mendy Portnoy were born in Manchester, England, later moving to Israel as adults. Their father was an orchestra conductor-turned-rabbi.[1] They played music separately from a young age and began playing together at around 14 years old.
The Portnoy brothers began recording their debut album, Learn to Love, in 2013 with bassist and engineer Alon Hillel. The album was co-funded by fans via an Indiegogo campaign, which raised £9,315 GBP.[2] In January 2016, they released a video for the album's closing track, "Timebound", as a tribute to David Bowie shortly after his death. In May 2016, they appeared at the Day to Praise Israel Independence Day event. The album was released on 23 September 2016.
Originally a YouTube series of live performances, The Portnoy Brothers released The Garden Sessions as an EP on 29 March 2019. The release included live renditions of four of the band's songs: 'Old Soul', 'Seeing is Believing', 'Tomorrow's Yesterday' and 'Memories'.
A sophomore album, No Complaints, was released on October 31, 2019. The album was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, and the band chose the name as a nod to the novel Portnoy's Complaint.[3] The album garnered attention after reaching the Billboard Heatseekers Chart.[4]
Since 2020, they have been releasing songs for their Shabbat Project album. They have recorded songs with Shlomo Katz, Zusha, Yosef Karduner, Amir Alaev, Alex Clare and their father, Joel Portnoy. The projects have accompanying videos on YouTube with some songs available for streaming. The completed album is set to be released soon.[5]
In June of 2024, the band released "October Rain"[6] (written by Keren Peles) which was the original version of the song "Hurricane" sang by Eden Golan at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in May of that year. The song contained the unedited lyrics of the Eurovision entry which was forced to revise its lyrics.
The Portnoy Brothers have cited The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, and Simon & Garfunkel as musical influences.