Regina Spektor born February 18; 1980) is a Soviet-born Jewish-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 grandfather.