Suzanne Vega

Suzanne Vega was born in Santa Monica, California, but grew up in Spanish Harlem and the Upper West Side of New York City.

She was raised by her mother, a computer systems analyst and her stepfather, the Puerto Rican writer Egardo Vega Yunque.

Suzanne Vega attended New York City's High School of Performing Arts (the school that later inspired the 1980 film Fame), where she studied modern dance and graduated in 1977. Looking back, she said the school did its best with her but she never quite fit the mold. "It was just like the movie," she recalled to Uncut magazine. "Everybody's really extroverted, dancing, singing, and drama everywhere. And, you know, it's not my temperament. But I learned over time how to give a show in my own way." After high school, Vega went on to Barnard College, where she majored in English literature.