Who is known as "The Mother of the MP3"?

Suzanne Nadine Vega is an American singer-songwriter. Her mother, Pat Vega (née Schumacher), is a computer systems analyst of German-Swedish heritage. Her father, Richard Peck, is of Scottish-English-Irish origin. Her stepfather, Edgardo Vega Yunqué, also known as Ed Vega, was a writer and teacher from Puerto Rico. She was born on 11 July 1959 in Santa Monica, California, but when she was two and a half, her family moved to New York City.

Suzanne Vega’s career spans almost 40 years. She is best known for her folk-inspired music and came to prominence in the mid-1980s, releasing four singles that entered the Top 40 charts in the UK during the 1980s and 1990s, including "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 her second album, Solitude Standing (1987), was remixed in 1990 as a dance track by English electronic duo DNA with Suzanne Vega as featured artist, and it became a Top 10 hit in over five countries.

The original “a capella” 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 Suzanne Vega to be given the title of "The Mother of the MP3".