Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (Russian: Реги́нa Ильи́нична Спе́ктор, IPA: [rʲɪˈɡʲinə ˈspʲɛktər]; /rᵻˈdʒiːnə ˈspɛktər/; born February 18, 1980) is a Soviet-born American singer-songwriter and pianist. She was born in the Soviet Union where she began classical training on the piano at the age of 6. When she was 9 years old, her family emigrated to the United States where she continued her classical training into her teenage years; she began to write original songs shortly thereafter.

After self-releasing her first three records and gaining popularity in New York City's independent music scenes, particularly the anti-folk scene centered on New York City's East Village, Spektor signed with Sire Records in 2004 where she began achieving greater mainstream notoriety. After giving her third album a major label re-release, Sire released her fourth album, Begin to Hope which would go on to achieve Gold certification. Her following two albums, Far and What We Saw from the Cheap Seats, each debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200.

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The Strokes are an American rock band formed in New York City in 1998, consisting of Julian Casablancas (lead vocals), Nick Valensi (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals), Albert Hammond, Jr. (rhythm guitar, keyboard, backing vocals), Nikolai Fraiture (bass) and Fabrizio Moretti (drums, percussion).

Met with wide-spread critical acclaim, the Strokes' 2001 debut, Is This It in 2001, helped usher in the garage rock revival movement of the early-21st century—and ranks number eight on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time, number two on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Albums of the 2000s, and 199 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

After its members embarked on a variety of side projects, the band regrouped for a fifth album, Comedown Machine, released on March 26, 2013. The Strokes have sold over 5 million albums to date.

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