Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (/rɪˈdʒiːnə ˈspɛktər/, Russian: Реги́нa Ильи́нична Спе́ктор, IPA: [rʲɪˈɡʲinə ˈspʲɛktər]; born February 18, 1980)[1] is a Russian-born American singer-songwriter and pianist. She was born in Moscow (then in the Soviet Union, now Russia), and began classical training on the piano at the age of six.[2] When she was nine and a half years old, her family emigrated from the Soviet Union to the United States, where she continued her classical training into her teenage years; she began to write original songs shortly thereafter.