The past is the future of rising Jazz star

May 9 2008 by Phil Key, Liverpool Daily Post

Philip Key talks to the feisty and flamboyant jazz sensation who’s set to take Southport by storm

VICTORIA HART has been around at bit. At just 19, she has had homes in California, Chicago, Essex, the south of France and London.

But it was her last resting place, London, where she finally made her name, a name that now sees her headlining at this year’s Southport International Jazz festival.

She was studying singing and to make ends meet took a job as a waitress in a London restaurant known as The Naked Turtle. It boasts kangaroo and crocodile on the menu, but also features singing waitresses.

It was this role Ms Hart had taken on when she was discovered and offered a dream job – singing on a yacht in Cannes for some of Hollywood’s biggest names, George Clooney and Brad Pitt among them.

They liked her jazz stylings and retro look and she returned an unexpected celebrity.

“It happened so quickly and there were three months of mayhem,” she says during a publicity visit to Southport. “I didn’t sleep, it was all very exciting but it was so intense I didn’t have time for it to sink in.

“People were coming up to me and saying ‘This must be incredible, you must be thrilled’ but I was really feeling numb in a way with no time to think about it.

“But I really enjoy it now, I am gigging regularly and I can do good things for the community and stuff as I have the name behind me. I have been doing charity work – mainly the kids’ ones like the NSPCC – and run school workshops under the title Follow Your Dream. You can’t do that sort of stuff when you are no-one.”

Victoria Hart is certainly someone now, with a string of high- profile appearances – including Glastonbury dressed in wellies and a cardigan – and singing with big bands.

There has been a successful album Whatever Happened to Romance? and a recent EP of live tracks, Mood Swings.

She is also one of those singers once seen, never forgotten. She likes to dress in 1940s style, many of her clothes purchased from second-hand shops.

For her appearance in Southport this week, she was wearing six-inch heels, a rose petal puff skirt and a blue and white striped T-shirt, all topped off with what she describes as “Madonna-looking massive sunglasses”.

It’s the sort of outrageous fashion she enjoys and can get away with in London. But it caused a bit of a stir in Southport.

The retro style dates back to when she was 13 and before she even got into music. “I have a Marilyn Monroe hour-glass figure so I wear jeans and stuff like that to accentuate it,” she explains. “Over time, however, my clothes have become more weird, quirky and wonderful.

“I get invited to a lot of party things now and if I can get into magazines for fashion reasons as well as my music, that’s great.”

Victoria was born in California, but when her parents’ marriage faltered she moved to Chicago with her mother to live with her grandmother.

It was her grandmother she credits for her interest in 1940s music and fashion. “I was brought up with the music – Billie Holiday, people like that and it really stuck. But, to be honest, I never paid attention when I was a kid and then when I was 15 and living in Cannes, a record producer discovered me and asked me to sing at a jazz picnic. I was going in a pop direction at the time and was into Eva Cassidy and I wanted to sing Cheek to Cheek at the gig. I did and everyone said ‘My God, where did that come from?’”

The producer was Geoff Gurd and they have worked together ever since, also writing together. “We developed this style which was really kitsch and tongue-in- cheek with a lot of jazz influences. I love it so much I do have fun with my music and singing.”

The album, Whatever Happened to Romance? was recorded before the famous George Clooney gig and has become a big seller for her.

Back in Chicago, her mother fell in love with another man, destined to become her next husband and Victoria’s step- father, and they were on the move again, this time to Essex – “which is very glamorous”. He was an Essex man, also liked jazz and has been another influence on Victoria.

“I always fall in love with Essex boys and can’t break the mould,” she says. “I like their boyish charm, they’re just geezers aren’t they? I have a regular one at the moment, a regular geezer.”

Having signed a £1.5m deal with Universal, Victoria is busy working on numerous albums.

One due out in October is a George Gershwin album but based around some of his lesser-known songs.

“We have been digging through some suitcases, got permission from Gershwin’s nephews and it’s very exciting. People think if a Gershwin song is not famous it can't be very good but I found his brother Ira Gershwin commenting once about one song that was cut from a show simply because they could not budget for it – and he thought it was the best work they had ever done.”

Anther album will be out in January, with mostly originals written by Victoria and Gurd. “I am trying to steer away from jazz standards as everyone seems to be producing these covers albums, the Fly Me to the Moon jobbie. Everyone has heard those songs so many times.”

She plans to include some of the new material in her concert at the Southport Theatre on June 1.

Meanwhile, she is trying to recover from a burglary just over two weeks ago which saw most of her possessions going missing.

“I was moving house and all my stuff was stolen when it was meant to be in storage. One of the worst things that happened was that all my vintage clothes went. They are insured, but it has taken me five years to put that collection together.

“I also lost things like my mum’s wedding veil. I was so upset I tried to ignore it for the whole day and went to see Phantom of the Opera. But when I came out there were 27 missed messages on my mobile phone. It was the press and I was crying on the phone when I talked to those reporters.”

Some of the stuff has since turned up, including a missing photo album, and Victoria can take a more relaxed view on the robbery now. “I am still young in this industry and it is better that it happens now than in a few years when it would all have been a lot more expensive.”

VICTORIA HART with her big band, at the Southport Theatre on June 1, at 8pm. The Southport International Jazz festival runs from May 29-June 1.

philkey