Regina Spektor

Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (Russian: Реги́нa Ильи́нична Спе́ктор, IPA: [rʲɪˈɡʲinə ˈspʲɛktər]; /rᵻˈdʒiːnə ˈspɛktər/; born February 18, 1980) is a Russian-born American singer-songwriter and pianist. She was born in Moscow (former Soviet Union, now Russia), and began classical training on the piano at the age of six. When she was nine years old, her family immigrated to the United States, where she continued her classical training into her teenage years; she began to write original songs shortly thereafter. After self-releasing her first three records and gaining popularity in New York City's independent music scenes, particularly the anti-folk scene centered on New York City's East Village, Spektor signed with Sire Records in 2004 where she began achieving greater mainstream recognition. After giving her third album a major label re-release, Sire released her fourth album, Begin to Hope which would go on to achieve Gold certification. Her following two albums, Far and What We Saw from the Cheap Seats, each debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200. 2Early life and musical beginnings Spektor was born in 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, to a musical Russian Jewish family. Her father, Ilya Spektor, is a photographer and amateur violinist. Her mother, Bella Spektor, was a music professor in a Soviet college of music and teaches at a public elementary school in Mount Vernon, New York. She has a brother Boruch (also known as Bear), who was featured in track 7, "* * *", or "Whisper", of her 2004 album, Soviet Kitsc