Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union| Instrument = Piano, Vocals, Guitar | Genre = Antifolk, Indie rock, Alternative rock, Baroque pop, Blues | Voice_type = Mezzo-Soprano[1] | Occupation = Singer, songwriter, record producer | Years_active = 1999–present | Label = Warner/Sire | Associated Acts = Sondre Lerche, Ben Folds, Kill Kenada, The Strokes | URL = Regina Spektor official website}} Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (, , ; born February 18, 1980) is a Russian-born American singer-songwriter and pianist. Her music is associated with the anti-folk scene centered in New York City's East Village. ContentsEarly life Beginnings as a songwriter Style Performances Media coverage Charity Discography Awards References External links Early lifeRegina Spektor was born in Moscow, USSR in 1980 to a musical family. Her father, Ilya Spektor, is a photographer and amateur violinist. Her mother, Bella Spektor, was a music professor in a Russian college of music and now teaches at a public elementary school in Mount Vernon, New York.[2] She has a brother Barry (who was referred to as Bear), who was featured in track 7, "* * *", or "Whisper", of her 2004 album, Soviet Kitsch. Spektor learned how to play piano by practicing on a Petrof upright that was given to her mother by her grandfather.[3] She was also exposed to the music of rock and roll bands such as The Beatles, Queen, and The Moody Blues by her father, who obtained such recordings in Eastern Europe and traded cassettes with friends in the Soviet Union.[4] The seriousness of her piano studies led her parents to consider not leaving the USSR, but they finally decided to emigrate, due to the ethnic and political discrimination which Jews faced.[5] Spektor is completely fluent in Russian and reads Hebrew, and has since paid tribute to her Russian heritage, quoting the poem February by the famous Russian poet Boris Pasternak in her song Après Moi, and stating “I’m very connected to the language and the culture.”[6] Traveling first to Austria and then Italy, the family was admitted to the United States as refugees with the assistance of HIAS (the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) and settled in The Bronx, where Spektor graduated from the SAR Academy, a Jewish day middle school in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. She then attended high school for two years at the Frisch School, a yeshiva in Paramus, New Jersey, but transferred to a public school, Fair Lawn High School, in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, where she finished the last two years of her high school education.[7] Beginnings as a songwriterIn New York, Spektor studied classical piano with Sonia Vargas, a professor at the Manhattan School of Music, until she was 17; Spektor's father had met Vargas through her husband, violinist Samuel Marder.[8] Although the family had been unable to bring their piano from Russia, Spektor found a piano on which to play in the basement of her synagogue, and also practiced on tabletops and other hard surfaces. Spektor was originally interested only in classical music, but later became interested in hip hop, rock and punk as well.[9], and studied in Tottenham, England for one semester. She gradually achieved recognition through performances in the anti-folk scene in downtown New York City, most importantly at the East Village's Sidewalk Cafe, but also at the Living Room, Tonic, Fez, the Knitting Factory, and CB's Gallery. She also performed at local colleges (such as Sarah Lawrence College) with other musicians, including the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. She sold self-published CDs at her performances during this period: 11:11 (2001) and Songs (2002). In 2004, she signed a contract with Warner Brothers' record label Sire Records to publish and distribute her third album Soviet Kitsch, originally self-released in 2003. Style Regina Spektor in concert, April 2007. Spektor has said that she has created a great number of songs,[10] but that she rarely writes any of them down. She has also stated that she never aspired to write songs herself, but songs seem to just flow to her.[11] Spektor's songs are not usually autobiographical, but rather are based on scenarios and characters drawn from her imagination.[12] Her songs show influences from folk,[13] punk, rock, Jewish,[14] Russian,[15][16][17] jazz,[18] Part of her style also results from the exaggeration of certain aspects of vocalization, most notably the glottal stop, which is prominent in the single "Fidelity". She also uses a strong New York accent on some words, which she has said is due to her love of New York and its culture.[19] specifically naming The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, Radiohead, Tom Waits, and Frédéric Chopin as primary influences.[20] In her songs, "Eet", "Us", and "Après Moi" the titular sounds are used as the focal point throughout. (In "Dance Anthem of the 80's", the sound "eet" is also used often, on words such as "meat", "street", and "eat"). Performances Regina Spektor at her first performance in Tel Aviv, Israel on March 3, 2007 Spektor's first nationwide tour was accompanying The Strokes as the opening act on their 2003–2004 Room on Fire tour, during which she and the band performed and recorded "Modern Girls & Old Fashion Men". Kings of Leon were the second opening act on that tour, and they invited Regina to open for them on their own European tour right after The Strokes tour. In June 2005, Spektor was the opening act for the English piano rock band Keane on their North American tour, during which she performed at Radio City Music Hall on June 7, 2005.[21] During her 2006 headlining tour in support of the Begin to Hope album, Spektor sold out a performance at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania, and two shows at Town Hall Theater in New York City on September 27 and September 28, 2006.[22] Spektor has appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (once), Late Night with Conan O'Brien (three times), The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (twice), Jimmy Kimmel Live (twice), Last Call with Carson Daly (five times), Late Show with David Letterman (twice), Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (once), CBS News Sunday Morning, Good Morning America (twice), Australia's Rove Live, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (twice).[23] On October 10, 2009 she performed on Saturday Night Live. Since January 2005, Spektor has performed on a bright red Baldwin baby grand piano.[24] At the present time she uses exclusively Steinway & Sons pianos. She plays a seafoam Epiphone Wildkat archtop hollow-body electric guitar.[25] Although she generally only performs original material, Spektor occasionally performs covers. Most famous of these covers were her performances of songs by Leonard Cohen and Madonna, for the 2nd Annual Jewish Music & Heritage Festival at the 92nd Street Y in New York City.[26] In 2007, Spektor recorded "Real Love" for the Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur CD, which was released in June of that year. She recorded a version of the song for Triple J's Like a Version radio segment which was shown on jTV. Regina Spektor performing in Brighton on 2006-10-26. On March 8, 2007, Spektor appeared on the British ITV network's Loose Women, promoting and performing "Fidelity" live, and on April 20, 2007, she performed on the Late Show with David Letterman. On Saturday, April 28, 2007, she appeared at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. On Friday, May 18, 2007, she appeared on BBC1's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. On June 16, 2007, she performed at the Bonnaroo Music Festival and later performed at the 2007 Lollapalooza on August 4, 2007 and Virgin Festival on August 5, 2007 in Baltimore, Maryland. On September 16, 2007, she performed at the Austin City Limits Music Festival and recorded a set for the Austin City Limits TV show the following day. She performed acoustic at the Bridge School Benefit at Shoreline Amphitheatre on October 27 and October 28, 2007. On November 14, 2007, at her concert at Ryman Auditorium, in Nashville, it was announced that Spektor collapsed during the sound check and was taken to a local emergency room. According to the statement given to the audience, Spektor was fine, but doctors said that she could not perform that night. It was later reported that the cause of the collapse was an inner ear infection which caused intense vertigo. The show was initially rescheduled for December 6, 2007,[27] but the date was once again rescheduled, and the concert finally occurred on February 29, 2008.[28] After her initial collapse in Nashville, she was able to perform in concerts at Mountain Stage on November 18, 2007,[29] and at Duke University on November 19, 2007.[30] In conjunction with the release of her 2009 album Far (album), Spektor was headlining at Serpentine Sessions, a series of concerts London's Hyde Park on June 29, 2009. Other European performances in 2009 include Glastonbury Festival, Hultsfred Festival, Oxegen 2009, T in the Park, Paradiso (Amsterdam), Latitude Festival, and Rock Werchter. Spektor has invited Brooklyn-based rock band Jupiter One to open concerts on her 2009 North American tour. As a part of that tour, on October 14, 2009 Spektor headlined a concert at the Radio City Music Hall in NYC. On July 7, 2010, Regina performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland.[31] Her cellist, Dan Cho, drowned the day before while swimming in Lake Geneva near the Chillon Castle.[32][33] She was described as distraught, shaken, and in tears and took several breaks to regain her composure.[34] Media coverage Spektor performing at the Hammerstein Ballroom on October 16, 2007 Regina Spektor performing in the West London Synagogue, February 2007. Since 2005, Spektor's music has been used in various television programs and commercials. In late 2005 "Us" (from Soviet Kitsch) was used in a commercial as part of the What Do You Want To Watch? series for the United Kingdom's British Sky Broadcasting. The advert features a clip from a documentary on skateboarder Danny Way. In the summer of 2006, a clip from "Us" was used for the teaser website for Microsoft's Zune project at ComingZune.com, as well as for a promotional campaign for MtvU. The same track is used by Dutch telecom company KPN in a commercial. "Somedays" was used in a 2005 episode of CSI: NY and "Samson" was used in a 2006 episode of the same series. "On the Radio" was used in an episode of ABC's Grey's Anatomy. "Field Below" was used in a 2006 episode titled "The Last Word" of CBS's Criminal Minds. "Fidelity" has also been used in an episode of Grey's Anatomy titled "Six Days, Part 2", Veronica Mars titled "Wichita Linebacker", Brothers & Sisters titled "Sexual Politics" and in the Brazilian telenovela A Favorita. "Better" is currently being used in a commercial for XM Satellite Radio, and was also used in an episode of "How I Met Your Mother". Her song "Music Box" is currently being used in a commercial for JC Penney. Spektor also sang the title song "Little Boxes" of Showtime's television series Weeds in the episode "Mile Deep and a Foot Wide" (2006) and her "Ghost of Corporate Future" was used both at the beginning and end of the episode.[35] On January 21, 2007, she was featured on CBS News Sunday Morning.[36] Spektor was recently named #3 on VH1's Top Artists Charts. Peter Gabriel recorded a version of Apres Moi on his 2010 release Scratch My Back. In Australia, Spektor's music has rapidly gained popularity in mainstream culture primarily due to Begin to Hope being played on the nation-wide radio station Triple J, where it eventually became a feature album. Prior to Begin to Hope, Spektor had only a small following in Australia in comparison to the US and Europe. Spektor reached #33 on Blender magazine's top 100 of 2006 and was also listed as one of the "Hottest Women of...Rock!".[37] "Fidelity" was also used in a 2007 television commercial in New Zealand advertising Yahoo!Xtra, a new partnership between Yahoo! and Telecom's Xtra ISP, and in the third episode[38][39] of the ITV series, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, in the UK. Also in 2007, the mobile phone company Vodafone used her lyric, "Come into my world..." from the track, "Hotel Song" on Begin to Hope, in an extensive TV advertising campaign in the UK and Ireland. On October 1, 2007, Spektor's new video for "Better" was released on VH1 and YouTube, where it was viewed more than 100,000 times within the first 24 hours. "Fidelity" was used in the trailer for the film 27 Dresses, released on October 3, 2007.[40] Her song "The Call" appeared prominently in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, as part of the film's finale sequence. Spektor's song Better was used in the movie My Sister's Keeper, loosely based on the novel of the same name by Jodi Picoult. A section of "That Time" was featured in the film In Bruges. Additionally, "Us" and "Hero" are both featured on the soundtrack for the film (500) Days of Summer. Spin Magazine profiled Spektor in their July 2009 issue, where she discussed her just-released album Far. The story was released in their digital edition that month, as well.[41] In August 2009, the song "Two Birds" was used in the 2009 Fall Campaign of the Polish TV Station TVN (Poland). Also Regina's song "Eet" debuted on the show 90210 in April of 2010. On September 16, 2009, it was announced that Spektor would write the music for the "Beauty", a modern adaptation of the Grimm's Fairytale "Sleeping Beauty", which is set to open during the 2011–12 Broadway season.[42] CharityIn 2007, she covered John Lennon's "Real Love" for Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. The following year, she participated in Songs for Tibet, an initiative to support the human rights situation in Tibet and Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso. The album was issued on August 5 via iTunes and on August 19 in music stores around the world.[43] On January 22, 2009, Spektor performed at the third annual Roe On The Rocks gig at the Bowery Ballroom to raise money for Planned Parenthood New York City.[44] Also, continuing with her support for Tibet, Regina Spektor played for Tibet House's annual concert at Carnegie Hall on February 26, 2010. Less than one month later, on March 23, 2010, Spektor gave a concert at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza in New York City to raise funds for the work of Doctors Without Borders in Haiti. Also, on April 27, exclusively on iTunes, she released a cover of Radiohead's song No Surprises with all proceeds going to the Doctors Without Borders to help the earthquake victims in Haiti and Chile. Discography 2001: 11:11 2002: Songs 2004: Soviet Kitsch 2006: Begin to Hope 2009: Far Awards Begin to Hope – Shortlist Music Prize (nominated) Regina Spektor – Studio8's Female Voice of August 2009 (won) References External links Official site "Regina Spektor" interview by Noel Murray (from The A.V. Club, 21 June 2006) Interview from Soundcheck, WNYC, 13 September 2005 Interview from All Things Considered, National Public Radio, 28 June 2006 Strangers Almanac Column on Regina Spektor from Glide Magazine NPR - All Songs Considered 7/22/2009 - Regina Spektor: When Every Sound Sings bg:Регина Спектор ca:Regina Spektor cs:Regina Spektor da:Regina Spektor de:Regina Spektor et:Regina Spektor es:Regina Spektor fr:Regina Spektor ga:Regina Spektor it:Regina Spektor he:רג'ינה ספקטור lv:Regīna Spektore nl:Regina Spektor ja:レジーナ・スペクター no:Regina Spektor pl:Regina Spektor pt:Regina Spektor ru:Спектор, Регина simple:Regina Spektor sk:Regina Spektor fi:Regina Spektor sv:Regina Spektor tr:Regina Spektor zh:蕾吉娜·史派克特

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