Singer
Songwriter
Musician

Marina's Website

About Marina

Born in Soviet Russia to a Communist nuclear physicist, Marina grew up in Moscow singing and making up her own melodies before she could talk. Noticing her daughter's musical talents, Marina's mom insisted that Marina receive a formal music education. So, Marina went to a music school each day right after her regular school. "It was very rigid. I really hated it at times," Marina says about her 8 year experience at the school of music.

When she was about ten, Marina decided to play a song of her own for her piano teacher, who scolded Marina saying that it was "simply nonsense." Too young to understand why, Marina didn't realize that the Russian culture was not the perfect environment for an aspiring young artist with big dreams. She took her teacher's negative comments to heart and put her songwriting dreams on hold. She turned to reading, skateboarding, torn jeans, karate and swimming, went figure skating in the winter and often skipped her music classes.

Then Marina discovered the Beatles. The Beatles invaded Marina's mind, and she spent hours playing their songs on the piano and even more hours trying to find more Beatles tapes (which was quite difficult as Western music had just started to appear on the Russian markets). Marina did try to write a few more songs but was too self conscious to keep them.

Everything changed when Marina turned 15. She entered a national competition for a scholarship to study in the United States for a year and won, beating thousands of Russian peers. That year made Marina realize that the American culture was more nurturing to individual creativity and she decided to move to America on her own.

Marina had to return to Moscow at 16 only to find out her mom was moving to Australia and that her year of study abroad wouldn't count academically in Russia. To finance her trip back to the USA, Marina took a job at a beverage franchise as a secretary and saved up her money while helping support her family and studying to finish high school.

At 17, Marina finally found a way back to America, but life was far from easy. "I had so much on my mind. I felt so guilty about leaving my family and my country, I was very lonely and scared trying to adapt to the new way of life. I was commuting to college and working a few part-time jobs. I've had a number of terrible relationships & life-altering experiences of which I am not quite ready to [openly] talk about. Writing songs became my drug, therapy and my spiritual healer. It helped me come to terms with many things."

Shortly after Marina turned 19, she met Nick Baker, who inspired her to seriously pursue a career in music. They have been collaborating ever since and have recently moved to Los Angeles from Illinois to peruse offers from the music industry. In July 2003, Marina & Nick teamed up with David Krebs, a legendary manager, who's been involved in building the careers of Don McLean, Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Aerosmith, among others. "I am really thrilled to have David as my manager. This is an exciting new chapter in my music career."

In the spring of 2004, Marina joined forces with Jack Douglas, a legendary record producer, whose discography ranges from John Lennon & George Harrison to Aerosmith (including their new release, "Honkin' on Bobo"). "As a huge fan of some of the artists Jack's worked with, I was extremely honored to record my songs with him," Marina exclaims.

A self-described ambitious workaholic, Marina continues touring, writing & recording while looking for an artist-friendly record label. "I love writing songs and I really really love performing them for my fans. I can't imagine a day without music. I will be doing this forever."

Marina appears on Discovergirls' new CD for the benefit of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Click on the Catalyst 18 banner to learn more about the hottest album of 2006!

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