A major influence on most of the musicians who came out of Sderot, singer songwriter Uliel was influenced by both Arabic music and by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. He began playing bass guitar at age 13 in his hometown of Sderot and moved to electric guitar two years later at the same time he started his first band. After his army service he started the band Lips (Sfatayim) that became huge in the late 80s. Their success caused a revolution in the Israeli attitude towards Moroccan style music and towards Moroccan culture in general. In the next decade they recorded six successful albums. At the same time he also worked closely with his best student Kobi Oz of the popular Teapacks band. When Lips broke up Uliel collaborated with Oz on his first two solo records from 2000 and 2002.
