Regina Spektor

Regina Ilyinichna Spektor is a Soviet-born American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Born on February 18, 1980, in Moscow, Soviet Union, she grew up in a musical Russian-Jewish family with a photographer father and a music professor mother. Spektor began piano lessons at age seven. She grew up listening to classical music, Russian bards, and rock and roll bands introduced to her by her father.

In 1989, during Perestroika, Spektor's family emigrated from the Soviet Union to New York City to escape discrimination against Jewish people. Settling in the Bronx, she completed her middle school education at SAR Academy. She studied classical piano with Sonia Vargas until age 17, completed high school at Fair Lawn High School, and graduated with honors from the studio composition program at Purchase College's Conservatory of Music in 2001.

Spektor became interested in songwriting during a teenage trip to Israel, leading her to compose her first songs around ages 16 and 17. She built an early audience performing in New York City's independent anti-folk scene, notably at the SideWalk Cafe, while selling self-published albums such as 11:11 (2001) and Songs (2002).

Spektor gained wider visibility opening for the Strokes during their 2003–2004 tour, as well as opening for Kings of Leon in Europe. In 2004, she signed with Sire Records, which re-released her 2003 album Soviet Kitsch. Her breakthrough album, Begin to Hope (2006), reached number 20 on the Billboard 200 and earned an RIAA Gold certification, largely driven by the successful single "Fidelity".

Spektor's subsequent albums, Far (2009) and What We Saw from the Cheap Seats (2012), both debuted at number three on the Billboard 200. She followed these with Remember Us to Life in 2016 and Home, Before and After in 2022. Beyond her studio albums, Spektor created "The Call" for the film The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and "You've Got Time", the Grammy-nominated theme song for the series Orange Is the New Black.

Spektor has performed at major music festivals, a 2010 White House reception, a 2019 Broadway residency, and an NPR Tiny Desk Concert in 2022. Her recognitions include becoming an official Steinway Artist in 2012, induction into the Bronx Walk of Fame in May 2019, and the proclamation of June 11, 2019, as Regina Spektor Day in New York City.

Musically, Spektor incorporates influences from folk, punk, rock, Jewish, Russian, hip hop, jazz, and classical styles. She plays piano as her primary instrument alongside guitar. Rather than writing autobiographical material, her songs typically depict imagined scenarios and characters, with each track crafted around its own unique musical style.