At the tender age of 18, songstress Victoria Hart has already wowed the likes of Meg Matthews and Alex Proud with her deliciously raspy vocals. Elspeth Waters talks big hair, big bands and broken hearts with the feisty blonde
Did you always want to sing? How did you get started?
Yes, I’ve been singing ever since I was three years old, and I’ve been doing it professionally now for about three years. The first gig I did outside of school was a jazz picnic at an old wine chateau in the south of France, where I lived from the age of 11 to 16. I was really nervous because at school I was “the star” but then suddenly I realised I was joining the real world. I think it might have been the worst performance I’ve ever done – I kept starting in the wrong key! But there was a producer there [Geoff Gurd] who said he wanted me to come into his studio and try a few things out and we’ve been writing together ever since. I get so annoyed with him sometimes because he’s such an old man! But we are so close and it’s the same with Lynne, my manager. The three of us are a really good team.
Is there a history of musical talent in your family?
No, not at all. My dad’s an Essex boy and he really loves Robbie Williams! But when me and my sister we were little, driving to the tip, he used to play Nina Simone; it’s amazing what stays with you when you are a kid. My grandma was a model back in the 1940s and she has loads of AlbertoVargas pin-ups all over her house. She lives out in California and I went out there this Christmas and bonded with her so much while we listened to all these songs that I knew from when I was younger, like Billie Holliday. She’s so glamorous and I always knew that glamorous side was inside of me but I never really knew why and then being with my grandma again, it just clicked.
How would you describe your style?
Jazz is how most people describe the music but it’s really 1920s and 30s big-band arrangement kind of stuff and I live my life by it all. I dress in the 1920s style – I’ve got really big floaty dresses. I’m such a glamour puss! Last year, I was kind of marketed as the female Jamie Cullum and he wears jeans and scruffy t-shirts, so my manager took me to Selfridges to buy some jeans and I kicked and screamed and was not having it. When I was 14 I threw out every pair of trousers I owned and having to buy trousers was such a trauma – we almost fell out over it! We got boyfriend jeans from GAP and I was thinking “Oh please, can you get any further away from who I am?!”
So no trousers at all these days then..?
Everyone say’s it weird not to wear trousers but the stylist I’m working with doesn’t and the make-up artist I worked with on my last photo-shoot doesn’t either. But I do wear the jeans occasionally now, because they’re comfy and you realise that when you wear dresses all the time and someone says, “Right, we’re going for a walk in the forest”, you’re not really prepared, unless you put wellies on under a dress, which I normally do!
So, you must turn a few heads then, strutting your stuff in those beautiful frocks?
I like turning heads and I don’t have a problem feeling way over-dressed. Back in the day, women had curves and they actually looked like women instead of boys and they never wore trousers. Of course I’m all for rights for women and thank god we’re equal but I really love being feminine and I really play on the whole romance thing. My album’s called Whatever Happened to Romance?
Any romance on the cards at the moment?
No, I’ve just been mucked around completely – I’m usually the strong one and do the walking away but this time I really fell for him and he did it to me! Oh well, plenty more fish in the sea… I need a guy to be over 6ft because I really want to feel like a lady. I would never date a guy that’s shorter than me or skinny because I have to feel like the delicate little flower! But then, because I had to move out when I was 16, I’m such an independent woman. I hate it when people try to buy me things. I live in a house with a 21-year old guy and a 20-year old girl and I’m the one who sorts everything out around the house; I fix all the electronic things and I pay all the bills and I pride myself on being able to do things like that.
Where does your inspiration for song writing come from?
Everywhere. Our songs are quite random; they’ll not all “I love you” like most of what’s on the radio. We’ve got a song called A girl like me and it’s about me going to the altar with a guy and it turning out that he won’t marry me because he’s gay. Obviously it’s not true but it’s really funny! I lived with a gay guy last year and so the first people I knew in London were a bunch of gay guys and they love that song.
Where’s home?
Probably here in London. I moved to London when I was 16, and my parents moved to New York three months later, which was tough but I love London. I love the freedom. I was never stupid about it but you really can do anything you want. I’ve been moving around West London for the last two years. Now I live in Ealing which I really love but I’m really attracted to East London because it seems to be where the younger people are these days.
What do you make of the whole burlesque revival scene?
I love it; I don’t really do the whole burlesque thing on stage even though I’m all dressed up in glamorous stuff – the dancing doesn’t actually go with the music which is more big-band, female Frank Sinatra type stuff. But I went to see Immodesty Blaize and I’ve been to a few Burlesque-themed parties, which are so easy for me because that’s basically all of my clothes!
Where have you been performing?
I’ve been to some really weird places. I did a tour of tearooms around London and it wasn’t all tea and scones like I was expecting; I ended up in some shisha bars and places like that but it was so fun. I played at the opening of the Proud Gallery in London. I was first and then Graham Coxon was singing second. I also sang at Pigalle on Picadilly which is so lovely inside – like a 1930s gentleman’s club and I had such a good time there because it was about the glamour as well as the music.
What have you got lined up next?
Lots of exciting things. I’m going to be singing with the BBC orchestra on Radio 2. Then the plan is to go to Japan because we’ve just had the offer of a record deal out there but that’s still in the early stages. We’re shooting the video for Whatever Happens to Romance, the title song, in a couple of weeks, which is my favourite song; the words really define me. But then there’s Someday which is quite poppy but it’s got such a nice feel to it and it’s the song that makes you cry because it’s a break-up song; the radio people really liked that one, so that might be the first single. It’s all happening really fast, but I love that buzz. We’re so ready now for whatever is coming.
Check out Victoria Hart’s music at www.victoriahart.com and www.myspace.com/victoriahartmusic
