苏珊娜·薇佳

Suzanne Nadine Vega (née Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter of folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans 40 years. In the mid-1980s and 1990s, she released four singles that entered the Top 40 on the UK singles chart, "Marlene on the Wall", "Left of Center", "Luka" and "No Cheap Thrill".

"Tom's Diner", which was originally released as an a cappella recording on Vega's second studio album, Solitude Standing (1987), was remixed in 1990 as a dance track by English electronic music producers DNA with her vocals. It became a Top 10 hit in five countries. The original a cappella recording of the song was used as a test during the creation of the MP3 format. The role of her song in the development of the MP3 compression prompted Vega to be given the title of "The Mother of the MP3".

Vega has released ten studio albums; her most recent release is the studio album Flying with Angels, released on May 2, 2025, by Cooking Vinyl.

Early life

Suzanne Nadine Vega was born on July 11, 1959, in Santa Monica, California. Her parents divorced soon after her birth. Her mother, Pat Vega (née Schumacher), is a computer systems analyst of German-Swedish heritage. Her father, Richard Peck, is of English, Irish and Scottish origin. Her stepfather, Edgardo Vega Yunqué, also known as Ed Vega, was a novelist and professor from Puerto Rico. When Vega was two and a half, her family moved to New York City. She grew up in Spanish Harlem and the Upper West Side. She was not aware that Peck was her biological father until she was nine years old. Vega and Peck met for the first time in her late 20s and remain in contact.

She attended the High School of Performing Arts (since renamed Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School) where she studied modern dance and graduated in 1977.

Career

1980s

While majoring in English literature at Barnard College, she performed in small venues in Greenwich Village, where she was a regular contributor to Jack Hardy's Monday night songwriters' group at the Cornelia Street Cafe and had some of her first songs published on Fast Folk anthology albums. In 1984, she received a major label recording contract, making her one of the first Fast Folk artists to break out on a major label.

Vega's eponymous debut studio album was released on May 1, 1985, by A&M Records and was well received by critics in the U.S.; it reached platinum status in the United Kingdom. Produced by Lenny Kaye and Steve Addabbo, the songs feature Vega's acoustic guitar in straightforward arrangements which deviated from the prevailing trends of the time. A music video was released for the album's song "Marlene on the Wall", which went into MTV and VH1's rotations. During this period Vega also wrote lyrics and sang vocals for two songs, "Lightning" and "Freezing", on the 1986 studio album Songs from Liquid Days by composer and pianist Philip Glass.

Vega's song "Left of Center", co-written with Steve Addabbo, was released as part of the soundtrack to the John Hughes film Pretty in Pink (1986). It features British musician Joe Jackson on piano and was released as a single in May 1986, reaching No. 32 on the UK singles chart.

In 1986, she was interviewed by Lou Reed on 120 Minutes to promote a Greenpeace benefit concert, which led to them becoming friends. After Reed's death in 2013, Vega has covered "Walk on the Wild Side" at all of her live concerts since as a tribute.