Søren Solkær Starbird · CC BY 3.0

Spektor arrived in New York from Moscow as a child and taught herself to play piano on radiators and tabletops after the family's real one was sold to fund the emigration; she later found her voice in the East Village's anti-folk scene, self-releasing three albums before signing with Sire Records. Begin to Hope went gold, and Far and What We Saw from the Cheap Seats each debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200. New York City declared June 11, 2019, Regina Spektor Day.