Suzanne Nadine Vega (née Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter of folk-inspired music.

In the mid-1980s and 1990s she released four singles that entered the Top 40 charts in the UK, "Marlene on the Wall", "Left of Center", "Luka" and "No Cheap Thrill".

While majoring in English literature at Barnard College,[12] 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.

Vega's self-titled debut studio album was released in 1985 and was well received by critics in the U.S.;[9] 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.

[14] Vega's song "Left of Center" co-written with Steve Addabbo for the 1986 John Hughes film Pretty in Pink reached No.

[15] Her next studio album, Solitude Standing (1987), garnered critical and commercial success, selling over one million copies in the U.S.[16] It includes the international hit single "Luka", which is written about, and from the point of view of, an abused child.

[17]) While continuing a focus on Vega's acoustic guitar, the music of her second album is more strongly pop-oriented and features fuller arrangements.

[18] Vega performed her set whilst wearing a bulletproof vest, her band having received death threats from an obsessed fan ahead of the festival.

[18] The a cappella "Tom's Diner" from Solitude Standing became a hit in 1990, having been remixed by two British dance producers under the name DNA.

[11] The track was originally a bootleg, until Vega allowed DNA to release it through her record company, and it became her biggest hit.

[19] This record was awarded Gold status by the RIAA in recognition of selling over 500,000 copies in the U.S.[16] The single "Blood Makes Noise" from this album peaked at number-one on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks.

In the same year she was invited by Grammy Award-winning jazz guitarist Bill Frisell to play at the Century of Song concerts at the famed Ruhrtriennale in Germany.

[23][24] On August 3, 2006, Vega became the first major recording artist to perform live in the Internet-based virtual world, Second Life.

[32] In 2008, fire at a Universal Music Group vault in Los Angeles County resulted in the loss or damage of some Vega recordings.

[33] A partial cover version of her song "Tom's Diner" was used to introduce the 2010 British movie 4.3.2.1., with its lyrics largely rewritten to echo the plot.

She wrote both melody and lyrics for her song, which is titled "Man Who Played God", inspired by a biography of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso.

Vega sang lead vocals on the song "Now I Am an Arsonist" with singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton on his studio album, Artificial Heart (2011).

In all, Vega's Close-Up series features 60 re-recorded songs and five new compositions, representing about three-quarters of her lifetime songwriting output.

Vega's ninth studio album, Lover, Beloved: Songs from an Evening with Carson McCullers, was released on October 14, 2016.

[10] In early 2020, Vega played the role of "Band Leader" in an off-Broadway musical based on the 1969 movie Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, directed by Scott Elliott and produced at The New Group in New York City.

[53] In his review for The New York Times, critic Ben Brantley called the "brandy-voiced" Vega "a delightful, smoothly sardonic presence.

The alternative rock band Soul Coughing's debut studio album Ruby Vroom (1994) was named for her, with Vega's approval.

[citation needed] On February 11, 2006, Vega married Paul Mills, a lawyer and poet, "22 years after he first proposed to her.

[58][59][60][61] Vega practices Nichiren Buddhism and is a member of the American branch of the worldwide Buddhist association Soka Gakkai International.