Regina Spektor

Regina Spektor was born on February 18, 1980 in Mocow, Russia but moved to the United States when she was 9. A singer and songwriter, Spektor was exposed to western music that influenced her self-released debut album 11:11 (2001) which in later years became out of print and a sought-after collector’s item. She built a following solely based on her performances and reached the contacts to release a major label album titled Soviet Kitsch (2004) that in 2009 was put on “100 greatest albums of the decade” by NME. What followed were acclaimed albums Begin to Hope (2006), Far (2009), What We Saw from the Cheap Seats (2012), and Remember Us to Life (2016) with hit singles “Us”, “Fidelity”, and “Better” which would go to be nominated for MVPA Awards in 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Spektor has done philanthropy work; supporting Tibet by participating in Songs of Tibet for human rights and donating all the proceeds of her cover of “No Surprises” to the victims of the earthquake in Haiti and Chile in 2010.