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'Regina Spektor' (; born February 18, 1980) is a Russian-born American singer-songwriter and pianist. Her music is associated with the anti-folk scene centered on New York City's East Village.

Contents

Early life

Beginnings as a songwriter

Style

Performances

Media coverage

Trivia

Discography

Compilations

References

External links

Articles

Audio interviews

Video

Early life

Spektor was born in Moscow, Russia, USSR to a musical Jewish family. Her father, Ilya Spektor, a photographer, was also an amateur violinist. Her mother was a music professor in a Russian college of music, and now teaches at a public elementary school in Mount Vernon, New York.^[1]
Spektor learned how to play piano by practicing on a Petrof that was given to her mother by her grandfather.^[2] 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. The family left the Soviet Union in 1989, when Regina was nine, during the period of Perestroika when Jewish citizens were permitted to emigrate. Unfortunately, Regina had to leave her piano behind.^[3] The seriousness of her piano studies led her parents to consider not leaving Russia, but they finally decided to emigrate, due to the ethnic and political discrimination with which Jews were faced.^[4]
Traveling first to Austria and then Italy, the family settled in the Bronx, New York, where Spektor graduated from the SAR Academy, a middle school yeshiva in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. She then attended high school for two years on a scholarship at the Frisch School, a yeshiva in Paramus, New Jersey, but, feeling out of place, eventually transferred to a secular public school, Fair Lawn High School, in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, where she finished the last two years of her high school career.^[5][6]
Spektor has stated that she was originally interested only in classical music, but that she later became interested in hip hop, rock, and punk, as well.

Beginnings as a songwriter

In New York, Spektor gained a firm grounding in classical music from her piano teacher, Sonia Vargas, a professor at the Manhattan School of Music. Spektor studied with Vargas—whom Spektor's father had met through violinist Samuel Marder, Vargas's husband—until she was 17.^[7] Although the family had been unable to bring their piano with them from Russia, Spektor found a piano on which to practice in the basement of her synagogue, also utilizing tabletops and other hard surfaces for this purpose.²
Although she had always made up songs around the house, Spektor first became interested in songwriting during a visit to Israel with the Nesiya Institute in her teenage years. Attracting attention from the other children on the trip for the songs she made up while hiking, she realized she had an aptitude for songwriting. Following this trip, she was first exposed to the work of Joni Mitchell, Ani DiFranco, and other singer-songwriters, which gave her the idea that she could create her own songs. She began writing her first a cappella songs around age sixteen, and wrote her first songs for voice and piano when she was nearly eighteen.
Spektor completed the four-year studio composition program of the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College in Purchase, New York within three years, graduating with honors in 2001. Around this time, she also worked briefly at a butterfly farm in Luck, Wisconsin, 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.² During this period, she sold her self-produced CDs '' (2001) and ''Songs'' (2002) at such performances.

Style

Regina Spektor in concert, April 2007.

Spektor's songs rely on a mixture of styles, and techniques, often starting with a piano riff and integrating moans, nonsense words, groans, gurglings, or warblings. Spektor has said that she has created 700 songs,^[8] 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.^[9] Spektor's songs are not usually autobiographical, but rather are based on scenarios and characters drawn from her imagination.^[10] Her songs show influences from folk,^[11], punk, rock, Jewish,^[12] Russian, hip hop,^[13][14][15] jazz, and classical music. Spektor's musical style has drawn many comparisons to fellow singer-pianists Fiona Apple and Tori Amos.^[16] Spektor has said that she works hard to ensure that each of her songs has its own musical style, rather than trying to develop a distinctive style for her music as a whole.^[9]
Spektor possesses a broad vocal range and uses the full extent of it. She also explores a variety of different and somewhat unorthodox vocal techniques, such as verses composed entirely of buzzing noises made with the lips, beatbox-style flourishes in the middle of ballads, or the use of a drum stick to tap rhythms on the body of the piano or chair.^[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.
Her lyrics are equally eclectic, often taking the form of abstract narratives or first-person character studies, similar to short stories or vignettes put to song. Spektor usually sings in English, though she sometimes includes a few words or verses of Latin, Russian, French, and other languages in her songs. Some of Spektor's lyrics include literary allusions, such as to F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway in "Poor Little Rich Boy", ''The Little Prince'' in "Baobabs", Virginia Woolf and Margaret Atwood in "Paris", Ezra Pound and William Shakespeare in "Pound of Flesh", Boris Pasternak in "Après Moi", Samson and Delilah in "Samson", and ''Oedipus the King'' in "Oedipus". Recurring themes and topics in Spektor's lyrics include love, death, religion (particularly Biblical and Jewish references), city life (particularly New York references), and certain key phrases have been known to recur in different songs by Spektor, such as references to gravediggers, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the name "Mary Ann".
In Spektor's early albums, many of her tracks had a very dry vocal production, with very little reverb or delay added. However, Spektor's more recent albums, particularly ''Begin to Hope'', have put more emphasis into song production and have relied more on traditional pop and rock instruments.
Spektor names The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, and Frédéric Chopin as a few of her primary influences.^[19]

Performances

Regina Spektor singing a cappella at Bonnaroo 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." Subsequently, she has appeared on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' (twice), ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' (twice), ''Jimmy Kimmel Live'', ''Last Call with Carson Daly'' (three times), ''Late Show with David Letterman'', ''CBS News Sunday Morning'', ''Good Morning America'' and Australia's ''Rove Live''.^[20] Since roughly January 2005, Spektor has performed on a bright red Baldwin baby grand piano.^[21]
Although she generally only performs original material, Spektor performed her first covers in 2005, of songs by Leonard Cohen and Madonna, for the 2nd Annual Jewish Music & Heritage Festival at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. In 2006, Spektor embarked on a headlining tour of the United States and Europe, selling out numerous clubs and theaters. She also covered John Lennon's "Real Love" at her alma mater State University of New York at Purchase's Performance Arts Center on March 28, 2007, a benefit concert for the Conservatory of Music.^[22] Also in 2007, Spektor recorded "Real Love" for the '' CD, which was released in June of that year.
On March 8, 2007, she appeared on ITV'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 ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross''. On June 16, 2007, she performed at the Bonnaroo Music Festival before, later, performing at the 2007 Lollapalooza on August 4, 2007 and Virgin Festival on August 5, 2007 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Media coverage

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 '' 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" was also used in a recent episode of "Grey's Anatomy" titled Days, Part 2", in an episode of ''Veronica Mars'' titled "Witchita Linebacker", and in an episode of "Brothers & Sisters" titled Politics". "Better" is currently being used in a commercial for XM Satellite Radio. Spektor also sang the title song "Little Boxes" of Showtime's television series Weeds in the 2006 episode "Mile Deep and a Foot Wide" and her "Ghost of Corporate Future" was used both at the beginning and end of the episode. On January 21, 2007, she was featured on CBS News Sunday Morning[1].

Regina Spektor performing in the West London Synagogue, February 2007.

Spektor received increased attention in 2006 when her video for "Fidelity" was viewed over 200,000 times in two days on YouTube. On SIRIUS Radio's Left of Center channel, her single "Fidelity" was voted by listeners as the #1 song of 2006. Towards the end of 2006, VH1 showcased her as part of their "You Oughta Know: Artists on the Rise" featurettes: they played clips from the "Fidelity" music video and showed parts of an interview with Spektor during commercial breaks on the channel [2]. Regina was recently named #3 on VH1's Top Artists Charts.
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'', Regina 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.".^[23]
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. 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.
Some of Spektor's songs are regular plays on various music television channels, in particular VH1.

Trivia

★ Placed #5 on Spinner.com's Who Rock Right Now''.

★ Bomb the Music Industry! has recorded a cover of Regina's "Ghost of Corporate Future" which periodically springs up on their [3].

★ Sellaband artist Julia Marcell mentions Regina in her song "Jack The Ripoff," in the line "And I Sound Like Regina Spektor At Times."

Discography

Spektor's first two albums were released exclusively in the United States; ''Soviet Kitsch'' and ''Begin to Hope'' were released worldwide. The compilation ''Mary Ann Meets the Gravediggers and Other Short Stories'', containing songs from Spektor's first three albums, was put together for the UK market.

★ 1999 - ''Demo Cassette'' (Unreleased)

★ 2001 - '' (Self-released)

★ 2002 - ''Songs'' (Self-released)

★ 2003/2004 - ''Soviet Kitsch '' (Self-released/Shoplifter/Sire)

★ 2005 - ''Live at Bull Moose EP'' (Sire)

★ 2006 - ''Mary Ann Meets the Gravediggers and Other Short Stories'' (Transgressive)

★ 2006 - ''Begin to Hope'' (Sire)

★ 2007 - ''Live in California 2006 EP'' (Sire)

Compilations

★ 2000 - ''Public Domain'', Purchase Records

★ 2007 - ''Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur''

References

1. http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/episodes/10182004
2. http://www.soundgenerator.com/artists/artists_biography.cfm?artistid=9148
3. Regina Spektor: A Triumph That Began With Hope
4. Soundcheck interview (2005). "From Russia with Love". New York Public Radio.
5. http://www.emimusicpub.com/worldwide/artist_profile/regina-spektor_profile.html
6. http://forums.morrissey-solo.com/showthread.php?goto=lastpost&t=44096
7. Regina Spektor: The Red Princess
8. Regina Spektor's Got New "Hope"
9. Regina Spektor's Boundless Talent
10. Making Stuff Up: An Interview With Regina Spektor
11. http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/music/2004/07/paolo_nutini_peaches_regina_spektor.shtml
12. http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Music/Content?oid=88732
13. http://www.musicomh.com/albums/regina-spektor_0106.htm
14. http://www.myspace.com/reginaspektor
15. Regina Spektor in Concert National Public Radio
16. Making Fiona Apple seem normal.
17. Regina Spektor's Boundless Talent
18. Stories in Song: Regina Spektor's 'Begin to Hope'
19. http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/magazine/music/e3ib45af50decbdb4496f1d9fd83a0ee0b5
20. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/WinterConcert/popup?id=3011274
21. http://www.wnyc.org/shows/tnbt/episodes/2005/01/28
22. http://www.nynews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/ENTERTAINMENT/703290453
23. "http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?ID=2295&src=blender_ed

External links

★ OFFICIAL Regina Spektor website by Sonya Koshuta

★ Regina Spektor at MySpace.com

★

★

★ Regina Spektor at AntifolkOnline.com

★ Lollapalooza 2007 Live Performance Video

Articles

★ "Regina Spektor will blow your English professor's mind" by Alexandra De Jesus (from ''The College Hill Independent'', 10 March 2005)

★ "Regina Spektor: The Red Princess" by Shane Roeschlein, from themusicedge.com, 25 March 2005

★ "Spektor’s True Creativity Shines Through", by Laura Stanelle (from ''The Badger Herald'', University of Wisconsin-Madison, 10 March 2005)

★ A Lostwriters Review of Begin to Hope

★ "Regina Spektor" (interview by Noel Murray, from ''The A.V. Club'', 21 June 2006)

★ "Patriot's Heart", by Nick Catucci (from ''The Village Voice'', 26 June 2006)

★ "Regina Spektor: How the Beatles' Rubber Soul Changed My Life", by Hal Bienstock (from ''The Harp Magazine'', 23 July 2006)

★ "Singer explores love, loss", by Emily Ouzts (review from ''The Badger Herald'', University of Wisconsin-Madison, 4 September 2006)

★ "Spektor Brings Her Bronx Tale Home", by Rebecca Thomas (from ''The New York Sun'', 26 September 2006)

★ "Regina Spektor in Concert", (from ''National Public Radio'', 3 October 2006)

★ "The girl who told stories", by Michael Dwyer (from ''The Age'', Australia, 8 December 2006)

★ "Spectacular Spektor", by Susan Visakowitz (from ''Billboard.biz'', 13 January 2007)

★ "Regina Spektor's Boundless Talent", (from ''CBS News'', 21 January 2007)

★ "Regina Spektor Live in London", (from ''Abstractboy.org.uk'', 16 February 2007)

★ "Regina Spektor: A woman of substance", by Katy Guest (from ''The Independent'', 1 March 2007)

★ "Regina Spektor flashes her ... vocal skills", by Shawn Telford (from ''seattlepi.com'', 26 April 2007)

★ "Regina Spektor Talks... and Talks... and Talks", interview by Michael Roberts (from ''Denver Westword'', 3 May 2007)

Audio interviews

★ Interview from ''Soundcheck'', WNYC, 18 October 2004

★ Regina Spektor in a Piano Shop, from ''The Next Big Thing'', WNYC, 28 January 2005

★ Interview from ''Soundcheck'', WNYC, 13 September 2005

★ Interview from ''All Things Considered'', National Public Radio, 28 June 2006

Video

★ XFM 'X-posure Live' Video

★ Artist's Den live video of "Halikha LeKesariya" (also known as "Eli, Eli", lyrics by Hannah Szenes) and "Better", performed at the Angel Orensanz Center for the Arts, 1 June 2006