Israel Mbonyi, born on May 20, 1992, is a celebrated gospel singer, performer, and songwriter from Rwanda. He was born to Christian parents in the Democratic Republic of Congo. His passion for music began to show from a young age, leading him to pursue it as his career.
While Israel Mbonyi has dedicated most of his career life to music, he holds a degree in Pharmacy which he obtained from India. In a 2024 interview on RTV, he also confirmed having nearly completed studies for a masters degree in Public Health.

Israel learned music when he was very young, receiving training from a music teacher in his childhood neighbourhood in Musanze, Ruhangeri City – Rwanda. Out of a class that started with 30 students, Mbonyi notes that he was the only one who completed the course and learned how to play the guitar.
He released his first song ‘Number One’ on March 10, 2014, which also marked the release of his first album by the same title the same year.
The album includes eight songs, among them are ‘Yankuyeho Urubanza’, ‘Ku Migezi’, ‘Nzibyo Nibwira’, ‘Ku Musaraba’, ‘Ndanyuzwe’, ‘Hari Impamvu’, and ‘Agasambi’.
Most of Israel’s early musical releases were in his native language, Kinyarwanda, until 2023 when he ventured into singing in Swahili with his first release being his most popular hit, ‘Nina Siri’, on June 26, 2023. The song introduced Mbonyi to a wide Swahili-speaking East African audience in Tanzania and Kenya, quickly propelling him to regional and international fans