It’s a long way to the Grand Ole Opry stage from Muskoka, Canada, where Victoria spent the long winters of her childhood listening to her Dad’s collection of antique phonograph records. But this ASCAP and SOCAN award-winning songwriter – the writer behind the Sara Evans hit “Saints & Angels†and 3 of Hearts’ “Arizona Rain†– made it every step of the way.
“I was earning a Zoology degree and the lyrics just started pouring out, right in the middle of a calculus exam,†she says. “It didn’t take long to figure out that songwriting was my calling - I couldn’t help but pursue it.†That pursuit brought her to country music Mecca Nashville, Tennessee, where she lived on friends’ couches, pinching pennies and writing songs in the cold with her mittens on as her savings trickled away. “I couldn’t work in the USA without an employer to sponsor me for a visa. Instead, I made music my full-time job. I wrote songs all day and spent night after night in the cheap seats at the Bluebird Café, listening to master writers like Don Schlitz and Pat Alger. Little did I know I would be performing alongside those very writers one day!â€
She was down to her last $20 when she signed her first publishing deal. Since then she has collaborated with artists from Gretchen Wilson to Jessica Simpson and has penned songs for many more. Now a staff songwriter at Sony/ATV Nashville, she’s won the Unisong and USA International Songwriting Competitions, had songs featured in TV and movies, and toured the U.S. as a backup singer and acoustic guitar player for artists like Pam Tillis and Rachel Proctor. She’s headlined music festivals in Toronto, Florida and Belfast as a solo acoustic act, and has shared the stage with Jamie O’Neal, Aaron Tippin, Billy Kerrington and the supergroup Alabama.
Stylistically falling somewhere between Patty Loveless and Sheryl Crow, Victoria’s music is "Smart Country"; very commercial, but with an emotional and lyrical sophistication that looks past the surface of life. Her self-penned debut CD has been called “fully formed, radio friendly, new school country-rock...superb songwriting with lots of clever wordplay.â€
For more music and information, check out www.victoriabanks.net