Regina Spektor
(Cyrillic: ?????? ????????? ???????; born February 18, 1980) is a Soviet-born American singer-songwriter and pianist. Her music is associated with the anti-folk scene centered on New York City's East Village.
|
REGINA SPEKTOR TICKETS
EVENT | DATE | AVAILABILITY |
---|
Regina Spektor Tickets 7/24 | Jul 24, 2024 Wed, 8:00 PM | | Regina Spektor Tickets 7/25 | Jul 25, 2024 Thu, 6:30 PM | | Regina Spektor Tickets 7/27 | Jul 27, 2024 Sat, 8:00 PM | | Regina Spektor Tickets 7/28 | Jul 28, 2024 Sun, 8:00 PM | | Regina Spektor Tickets 7/30 | Jul 30, 2024 Tue, 8:00 PM | |
|
Early life
Spektor was born in Moscow to a musical
Jewish 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.
[1]
Spektor learned how to play piano by practicing on a
Petrof upright 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 and a half, during the period of
Perestroika, when Soviet citizens were permitted to emigrate. Regina had to leave her piano behind.
[3] 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.
[4]
Traveling first to
Austria and then
Italy, the family settled in
the Bronx, New York, 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.
[5]
Beginnings as a songwriter
In 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.
[6] 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.
Although she had always made up songs around the house, Spektor first became interested in more formal songwriting during a visit to
Israel with the
Nesiya Institute in her teenage years when she attracted attention from the other children on the trip for the songs she made up while hiking and realized she had an aptitude for songwriting.
Following this trip, she was exposed to the work of
Joni Mitchell,
Ani DiFranco, and other singer-songwriters, which encouraged her belief that she could create her own songs.
She wrote her first
a cappella songs around age sixteen and 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 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.
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
Spektor has said that she has created a great number of songs,
[7] 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.
[8] Spektor's songs are not usually
autobiographical, but rather are based on scenarios and characters drawn from her imagination.
[9] Her songs show influences from
folk,
[10] punk, rock,
Jewish,
[11] Russian,
hip hop,
[12] [13] [14] jazz,
and
classical music.
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.
Spektor has 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 and
beatbox-style flourishes in the middle of ballads, and also makes use of such unusual musical techniques as using a drum stick to tap rhythms on the body of the piano or chair.
[15] 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. She also plays with pronounciations (e.g. word "it" spelled "Eet" in the song of same name), which she said on a NPR interview to be a remnant of her early years when she listened to pop in English without understanding the lyrics. 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", Shakespeare's
Hamlet
in "The Virgin Queen",
Boris Pasternak in "Après Moi",
Samson and
Delilah in "Samson", and
Oedipus the King
in "Oedipus",
Billie Holiday in "Lady" and Edith Wharton's
Ethan Frome in "2.99 cent blues". She alludes to
The Beatles and
Paul McCartney in the song "Edit". She also used a line from Joni Mitchell's
California in her song "The Devil Came to Bethlehem". 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". Spektor's use of satire is evident in "Wasteside," which refers to the classic satirical novel by the Soviet authors
Ilf and Petrov The Twelve Chairs
, and describes the town in which people are born, get their hair cut, and then are sent to the cemetery.
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 says the records that most impact her are those of "bands whose music is really involved",
[16] specifically naming
The Beatles,
Bob Dylan,
Billie Holiday,
Radiohead,
Tom Waits, and
Frédéric Chopin as primary influences.
[17]
In two of her songs, "Eet" and "Us", 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
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.
[18] 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.
[19]
Spektor has appeared on
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (once),
Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' (three times),
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.
In 2006 and 2007, Spektor embarked on a headlining tour of the U.S. and Europe, selling out numerous clubs and theaters. She covered
John Lennon's "
Real Love" at the performance arts center of her alma mater,
State University of New York at Purchase, on March 28, 2007, at a benefit concert for the Conservatory of Music.
[23] 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.
On March 8, 2007, Spektor 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 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,
[24] but the date was once again rescheduled, and the concert finally occurred on February 29, 2008.
[25] After her initial collapse in Nashville, she was able to perform in concerts at
Mountain Stage on November 18, 2007,
[26] and at Duke University on November 19, 2007.
[27]
In conjunction with the release of her 2009 album
Far
, 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.
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
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 "
Witchita 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. 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.
[28] On January 21, 2007, she was featured on
CBS News Sunday Morning
.
[
]
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. [29] 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!". [30]
"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 [31] [32] 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. [33]
On February 4, 2008, Spektor performed the music for Oscar de la Renta's 2008 fashion show in New York City. Her performances included "Fidelity", "Us", and "Hotel Song". [34]
She performed the song "The Call" in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
, as part of the film's finale sequence. Spektor wrote this song especially for the film, as noted by director Andrew Adamson in the film's audio commentary.
On November 6, 2008, Spektor was interviewed on WFUV, which is a National Public Radio affiliate station at Fordham University, New York City, NY. This interview is featured on the NPR Network website, Listen Now: Regina Spektor On WFUV
. She shares about her early life in the USSR, then in the USA, what happened when she learned English, how she creates her unique sound, and the subject matter of her songs. She performs some of her songs live, throughout the interview. The songs she performs are: "Man of a Thousand Faces", "Time is all Around",
and "Summer in the City"
. The interview is 48 minutes long, including the live performances. [35]
Most recently, 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. 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. [36]
Charity
In 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, Songs for Tibet was issued on August 5 via iTunes and on August 19 in music stores around the world. [37] 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. [38]
Discography
Spektor's first two albums were released exclusively in the United States; Soviet Kitsch
, Begin to Hope
, and Far
were released worldwide. The compilation Mary Ann Meets the Gravediggers and Other Short Stories
, containing songs from Spektor's first three albums, was assembled for the UK market.
Albums
- 2001: 11:11
- 2002: Songs
- 2004: Soviet Kitsch
- 2006: Begin to Hope
- 2009: Far
EPs
- 2005: Live at Bull Moose EP
(Sire)
- 2007: Live in California 2006 EP
(Sire)
- 2009: Laughing With EP
(Sire)
|
Compilations
- 2000: Public Domain
(Purchase Records)
- 2006: Mary Ann Meets the Gravediggers and Other Short Stories
(Transgressive)
- 2007: Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur
- 2009: At Home With Friends, Joshua Bell
Collaborations
- 2004: "Modern Girls & Old Fashion Men" - B-side on The Strokes' "Reptilia" single (RCA)
- 2007: "Hell No" - Sondre Lerche's Dan In Real Life
soundtrack
- 2008: "You Don't Know Me" - Ben Folds's album Way to Normal
(Sony)
|
Singles
Year
| Single
| Peak chart positions
| Album
|
U.S.
| UK
| IRE
| AUS
| NZ
| BEL
|
2006
| "Carbon Monoxide"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| Soviet Kitsch
|
"Us"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| Mary Ann Meets the Gravediggers and Other Short Stories
|
"On the Radio"
| —
| 60
| —
| —
| —
| —
| Begin to Hope
|
"Fidelity"
| 51
| 45
| —
| 50
| 16
| —
|
2007
| "Hotel Song"
| —
| —
| 16
| —
| —
| —
|
"Samson"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| 30
|
"Better"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
2009
| "Laughing With"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| 34
| Far
|
"Eet"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
"—" denotes singles that did not chart.
|
Awards
Year
| Nominated work
| Award
| Result
|
2009
| Regina Spektor
| Studio8's Female Voice of August 2009
| Won
|
References
- Soundcheck (2004-11-18), "Hot Hot Hot". New York Public Radio.
- Artist Profile: Regina Spektor
- Regina Spektor: A Triumph That Began With Hope
- Soundcheck interview (2005-09-13). "From Russia with Love". New York Public Radio.
- Morrisset-Solo Forums
- Regina Spektor: The Red Princess
- Regina Spektor's Got New "Hope"
- Regina Spektor's Boundless Talent
- Making Stuff Up: An Interview With Regina Spektor
- Nottingham Music: Paolo Nutini / Peaches / Regina Spektor: Tis the period of the singer / songwriter
- Spectral Musings: Six lines that will make you fall in love with Regina Spektor
- Regina Spektor - Mary Ann Meets The Gravediggers (review)
- MySpace: Regina Spektor
- Title Unavailable
- Stories in Song: Regina Spektor's ''Begin to Hope''
- Regina Spektor | The A.V. Club
- "Spectacular Spektor", by Susan Visakowitz (from Billboard.biz, 13 January 2007)
- Music Snobbery: Regina Spektor Tells a Guy To Fuck Off
- Music Snobbery: Regina Spektor @ Town Hall: Moscow on the Hudson
- ABC News: Regina Spektor Rocks 'GMA'
- Regina Spektor in a Piano Shop
- Epiphone Musical Instruments - News
- http://www.nynews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/ENTERTAINMENT/703290453
- Spektor rushed to the hospital before Ryman show
- the Historic Ryman Auditorium
- mountainstage.org
- Spektor's official web site
- Music from the hit series, Weeds
- New Music Artists Info on You Oughta Know, Rising New Artists, See Photos & Watch Videos Online
- Hottest Women of... Rock!
- Secret Diary of A Call Girl - Music
- What was the song playing while Billie Piper was in shower on Secret diary of a call girl last night?
- 27 Dresses Movie Trailer
- OSCAR DE LA RENTA SHOW | By LISA MARSH | Fashion Week | Designers | Shows
- Regina Spektor Returns To The Bronx
- http://digital.spin.com/spin/200907/?u1=texterity
- E-Online (July 22, 2008) Sting, Matthews, Mayer Gamer for Tibet Than Beijing
- NME.com (Nov 17, 2008) [1]