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.

Regina Spektor (Russian: Регина Спектор; 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.

Spektor was born in Moscow, USSR (now Russia), 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.

Spektor learned how to play piano by practicing on a Petrof that was given to her mother by her Read more...