| Victoria Vox | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Victoria Davitt |
| Born | October 17, 1978 |
| Origin | Green Bay, Wisconsin, US |
| Genres | Pop, jazz, singer-songwriter, chanson |
| Occupations | Singer, songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, ukulele, guitar, bass, mouth trumpet |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Labels | OBUS Music (independent) |
| Website | http://www.victoriavox.com |
Victoria Davitt (born October 17, 1978), better known by stage name Victoria Vox, is a singer, songwriter and musician specializing in the ukulele. Originally a native of Green Bay, Wisconsin,[1] Vox now resides in Maryland when not on tour.
The Baltimore Sun notes her influences as including The Cranberries, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Patty Griffin, Sting, and Peter Gabriel.[2]
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At age 16, Vox spent a year living in France, living with a French family and becoming fluent in the French language. She began playing the guitar at age 17, a year before entering the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.[3] While at Berklee, she recorded her first record collaboration, performing with a band in Victoria and the Ultra Pink Bicycle Incident. In 2000, she graduated with honors from the Berklee College of Music with a degree in songwriting.[4] After her graduation, she moved briefly to Nashville, Tennessee. Shortly after, she moved to England where she released an acoustic record of emotional material entitled Still. After moving back to Green Bay in 2003, she committed herself to a career as a professional musician and in 2004 formed a group called Tres Femmes with singer/songwriters Kellie Lin Knott of Minneapolis and Stolie of Chicago. They released a self-titled acoustic cd and toured nationally.[5] Vox began to add bass and ukulele to the group’s music and in 2004 she recorded In Between, an acoustic EP that began to experiment with more pop sounds than her previous work. Following this release, the ukulele became her primary instrument and fans requested an album focusing on the uke.[5] In 2006, she released her first album of ukulele music through Obus Records. The album was entitled Victoria Vox and Her Jumping Flea[6] because "jumping flea" is the literal translation of the Hawaiian word "ukulele". While on tour in Hawaii in 2006, Vox was offered an endorsement with KoAloha Ukuleles of Honolulu, Hawaii.[7] Though her professional, performance repertoire contains little traditional Hawaiian ukulele music, with the 2008 release of Chameleon, Vox gained renown for her use of the ukulele with pop music.[8]
Victoria Vox has toured the US,[9] and plays over 125 performance dates annually,[10] including ukulele festivals such as the New York City Ukulele Festival and the Paris Ukulele Festival. She has been featured on NPR, and her song "America" from Jumping Flea was featured on the A&E show Random 1.
Vox was the runner-up in the International Acoustic Music Awards for ‘My Darlin’ Beau’ (Jumping Flea), and later won First Place for Chameleon in the same competition. She has been profiled in Relix magazine’s "On the Verge: 5 Artists You Should Know" section.[11]
In December 2009, Victoria Vox performed mouth trumpet in the "Meal or No Meal" segment on the Jay Leno Show. After being discovered by producers on youtube.com, she auditioned over the phone, performing Lady Gaga’s "Poker Face". For the Jay Leno Show, Vox performed a cover of Europe’s "The Final Countdown" despite her own preference for her original music. Vox was awarded a gift certificate for eight to the Japanese restaurant Benihana for her performance in the segment, which included a solo performance of the "mouth trumpet" which she produces by singing through slightly parted lips, on the right side of her mouth.[12]
Sony BMG and Austrian artist Valerie Sajdik recorded "Noyé" (penned by Victoria Vox) on her 2010 release, Ich Bin Du Bist.
Other recent awards (2010-11) include multiple Washington Area Music Awards (Wammies) (for Folk - Contemporary Vocalist, Contemporary Album of the Year, and Fan Favorite) and the people's vote for the "Vox Pop" award for Adult Contemporary Album of the Year (Exact Change) in 10th Annual Independent Music Awards [13]. She is also a member of 1% for the Planet.