1. Victoria Kimani was born in Los Angeles, California on July 28 1985. She is the youngest child of her family, with two elder brothers – Kimya Miyaki and Bamboo. She is a singer, songwriter, actress and entertainer, and is of Kenyan origin. She is currently signed to Chocolate City and is described as the record label’s “First Lady”.
2. She grew up partly in Benin City where her parents were missionaries, and began to sing in the church choir when she was 9. At 14, she knew she wanted to pursue music as a career, and at 16, recorded her first single titled “How I Feel”.
3. Upon return to Kenya after her secondary school in Nigeria, she got into university but immediately started to sing back-up for Mercy Mara – a legendary Kenyan singer, with whom she went on a two-week musical tour of Kenya, Burkina Faso, and Tanzania. That was when her musical career started, and she was only 17 at the time! She later opted to drop out of university to focus fully on music.
4. In 2009, she joined a duo called Club Embassy. Together, they released a mixtape titled “Diplomatic Immunity” which got over 250,000 downloads and created a lot of buzz in the industry. But by mid 2010, the duo split and began working on solo projects.
5. In 2010, she performed a remix of Ice Prince’s hit single “Oleku”, which got the attention of Chocolate City executives who at the time were on the verge of opening a branch in Kenya. They liked what they heard, and in 2012, signed her to the label, thus becoming the first act to be signed to Chocolate City Kenya. In March 2013 and under this label, she released her first single “Mtoto” – which is Swahili for child. Her second single and music video “Oya”, which featured MI became the first Kenyan video to be premiered on VEVO
6. Subsequently she released several other songs namely: “Heaven”, “Hate Me”, “Open Up Your Heart”, “F.U.M.F”, “Do What You Want” and “Freaks”. In 2014, she released yet another single, “Show”, and later that year, released “Prokoto” – a Congolese word for swagger, featuring Tanzanian artists, Diamond Platnumz and Ommy Dimpoz. In February 2015, she collaborated with Cynthia Morgan and Emma Nyra on the song, “Vex”, going on to release three more songs – “Two of Dem”, “Loving You”, featuring label mate Ice Prince and “Booty Bounce”.
7. In 2016, she released her mixtape, “Queen Victoria” which includes the single “All the Way” featuring Khuli Chana. For her efforts, she has gotten multiple award nominations, and was nominated for two Channel O Awards, where she also performed, though she’s yet to win any yet. Besides music, she also acts, appearing in the movie 7 Inch Curve which was directed by Shola Thompson.
8. She is an ambassador for agriculture, and is part of the ONE Do Agric Campaign, which together with 20 other African artists including Dbanj, Femi Kuti, Diamond Platnumz and Fally Ipupa hopes to sensitise the continent on the importance and benefits of agriculture in reducing poverty. She is also an advocate for women empowerment, and together with Cobhams Asuquo, Waje, Yemi Alade, Vanessa Mdee, Omotola Jalade Ekehinde and other female African musicians created the song “Strong Girl” which talks about the rights of women.
9. She has been romantically linked to Wizkid, and Kenyan actor, Victor Wanyama, none of which was ever confirmed.
10. She lists life experiences – both personal and those of others around her, love, parties, troubles, anything and everything as inspiration for her music. She describes herself as being very disciplined, simple, focused and independent.
