He is a gentle and relatively unknown singer-songwriter from Rose Bay. But Lior has crashed into the big league of the Australian music industry after receiving three ARIA award nominations.
The 28-year-old musician, who performs using only his first name, is up against Keith Urban, John Butler, Paul Kelly and Ben Lee for the best male artist award.
Although he is not signed to any major record label, Lior recorded his independent album,Autumn Flow, in Sydney early last year after borrowing more than $20,000 to make it.
"I thought, 'Hey, some people spend $20,000 on a holiday, I'm going to spend it on trying to capture these songs beautifully'," he said.
Lior admits he relied on friends and family to help him through. "I borrowed it from all sorts of people," he said with a laugh. "But I've thankfully managed to pay them back."
Critics have already raved aboutAutumn Flow so don't be surprised if Lior rapidly becomes a household name.
The singer was born in Israel but moved to Lane Cove with his family at the age of 10. He grew up in suburbs well removed from the grunge rock'n'roll of inner-city Sydney, studying at Killara High School and the University of NSW.
"I was always much more interested in writing songs than playing other people's songs. By the age of 15 or 16, I was well into songwriting," said Lior, who is married to Melanie and has a two-year-old daughter, Lucca, and another child on the way.
Although he has received big offers from major record companies, Lior is determined to remain independent. "I'm not going to go for it," he said about joining the roster of a major record label. "I'm not really interested in having my billboard shoved down people's throats at shopping centres, so there's not really a reason for me to go with a major record company."
Lior will attend the ARIAs alongside other big-name stars - including Missy Higgins - on October 23.