Regina Spektor

Regina Spektor (Russian Регина Ильинична Спектор; German Regina Iljinitschna Spektor; born February 18, 1980 in Moscow) is a Russian-born U.S. singer, pianist and songwriter, counted among the alternative and pop scene.

Live

When Regina Spektor was nine years old, her Jewish parents, a music teacher and a photographer, emigrated with her to the USA via Austria and Italy due to anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union. She grew up in New York's Bronx, and after training in classical music, she recorded her first self-produced album, 11:11, of original songs in 2001. She produced her third album, Soviet Kitsch, first by herself and then in 2002 with the producer of the band The Strokes, on whose North American tour Spektor appeared that year as a supporting artist. This collaboration resulted in the song Modern Girls & Old Fashion Men, which can be heard on the Strokes' single Reptilia. A European tour with Kings of Leon followed. Only the last two albums by Spektor were also distributed in Europe. Until 2005, Spektor's commercial success was limited to the USA, especially its East Coast.

In 2007 Spektor was able to achieve another success in Europe - the single Fidelity entered the British single charts at number 45. The single only just missed the TOP 50 in the USA with #51 on the Billboard charts. In the same year, she contributed the song Real Love, a cover of John Lennon, to the album Make Some Noise - The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. In 2008, she sang a duet with Ben Folds on his album Way to Normal, the track You Don't Know Me.

In 2008, Spektor contributed the song The Call to the soundtrack of the film The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian of Narnia. In 2013, Spektor recorded the theme song You've Got Time for the television series Orange Is the New Black, which was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Song category. She is featured on the soundtrack of the comedy (500) Days of Summer with two songs.

In the collaboration Scratch My Back / And I'll Scratch Yours, initiated by Peter Gabriel, Gabriel released Spektor's track Apres Moi on his album Scratch My Back in 2010. In return, Spektor contributed the Gabriel track Blood of Eden to the sampler And I'll Scratch Yours in 2013.

In the summer of 2010, one day before Spektor's concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival, their cellist and bandleader Daniel Cho drowned in Lake Geneva.

Spektor gave birth to a son in March 2014. The father of her child is author, comedian, musician, actor and producer Jack Dishel (formerly with the band The Moldy Peaches). He was also born in the Soviet Union. The two have been married since 2011, live in New York and occasionally work together.

They released their seventh studio album Remember Us to Life on September 30, 2016, four years after its predecessor What We Saw from the Cheap Seats.

Style

Spektor's style is described by leading pop music webzine Popmatters as a "typical New York anomaly": she combines absurd combinations of images in lyrics with a soulful, empathetic voice that has made her a name in the US indie scene. Her ingratiating voice and the unusual nature of her pieces are highlighted by Rolling Stone.