Alina Simone

Alina Simone (born Alina Vilenkin) is an American musician and writer. She is best known for her original songwriting, her album of cover songs by Russian punk poet Yanka Dyagileva, and her collection of autobiographical essays You Must Go And Win. She also blogs for The New York Times. 2Early life Simone was born in Kharkiv, then part of the Soviet Union, now Ukraine. She came to the United States at a young age as the daughter of political refugees (her father was blacklisted for 'refusal to cooperate' after resisting recruitment into the KGB). She was raised in Massachusetts where she attended art school, focusing on photography. 2Career After graduating, she moved to Austin, Texas where she began busking in doorways, performing her own songs. Her debut ep, Prettier in the Dark, was released in 2005, followed by an LP, Placelessness in 2007. Simone relocated to Brooklyn, and in 2008 released Everyone is Crying Out to Me, Beware, a collection of songs by the late Russian singer-songwriter, Yanka Dyagileva. This was followed by the dual 2011 releases of another collection of Simone's own songs, Make Your Own Danger, and her first book, You Must Go and Wi