Ingrid Michaelson (born 8th December 1979) is a U.S. singer-songwriter whose single "The Way I Am" reached number thirty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. She took up piano at the age of five, attending Manhattan's Third Street Music School for two years, going on to the Jewish Community Center of Staten Island's Dorothy Delson Kuhn Music Institute. There she met vocal coach Elizabeth McCullough, who worked with her through high school.