In May 1976, Natasha Shneider, her husband Kapustin, and her brother Vladimir defected to the West, arriving in New York City without finances or connections. Her son was born just two months after arriving. They took day jobs and played evening gigs around the city. In 1978 they arrived in Hollywood where they met Guy Costa, the head of Motown's Studio Operations, who introduced them to Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records. As a consequence of the meeting with Gordy they were signed to the label, reputedly the first Russian band to be on a major label. In June 1980 their newly named group, Black Russian, released an album of R&B styled pop that was well received by "Billboard" who highlighted the songs "Mystified"," Leave Me Now" (which was later released as a single), "Emptiness", "New York City", and "Love's Enough". The album was not a commercial success and Black Russian did not continue. Natasha Shneider and Serge Kapustin then divorced.