Gideon Gov was born in Rehovot, and received the nickname "Gidi", by which he has been ever since known to the public. Gidi's father died when he was very young, which made his mother move from place to place, so he lived in different places in Israel, including Tel Aviv and Eilat. He wanted to go into a combat unit in the Israeli army but because of his asthma he eventually got into the Israeli army singing troupe, of the "Nahal" unit, where he had many memorable performances with many other famous-to-be Israeli actors and singers.