Victoria is a passionate singer, songwriter and performer. She started writing poetry as early as age nine. 10 years later she picked up a guitar and taught herself chord progressions, soon enough composing her first tunes. With the rookie years behind her, today, she is composing catchy, heart-felt, sophisticated, attention-grabbing songs. "I'm not a classically trained musician, I'm a self-taught composer. I leave the rest of the math and magic to my genius collaborating band musicians. I write the words, then I execute the basic melody I hear in my head and in my heart. It's a game and an art for me."

Victoria

Growing up, she'd use a tennis racket for a guitar and a jump rope for a microphone, singing and dancing like there was no tomorrow for her collection of Barbie dolls (a captive audience if ever there was one).

She also used to write poetry by the frog pond in her back yard, but that's a story for another day.

She's a prolific songwriter and an incredibly passionate vocalist, a self-proclaimed "rock chick" with a warm, hungry heart. She's as bold as she is sensitive, as rugged as she is tender. She's Victoria Smith, a smart, sassy musician who makes it no secret that she plans to take the music world by storm.

"I'm actually quite introverted and introspective, so putting my thoughts down on paper and singing has always been this big, awesome cathartic release for me" says Victoria.

The truth is, her song lyrics betray a mature, sophisticated artist who doesn't appear shy at all about sharing her deep, innermost thoughts with her rapt listening audience.

"When I write a song, I usually draw from my own personal experiences, but it's not unusual for me to be inspired by something someone said that's really beautiful and has the potential to take on a life of its own. Sometimes it's just one random word that prompts a cool, new song idea," says Victoria.

Her background as a dancer - jazz, tap and ballet - comes in handy, too, helping her to marry particular sounds and rhythms to just the right emotions, and vice versa. Dancing is also great breathing exercise and, as she says, "reminds me to feel the music with my body," which is why Victoria still enjoys attending ballet class from time to time.

As for her chops on the guitar, as luck would have it, her stepfather owned a classic Gibson Hummingbird, but hardly ever used it. So as a freshman in college, she finally asked to borrow this fine instrument, which she had admired from a distance for years. And the rest, as they say, is history.

"I was in love - not with a boy, but this beautiful guitar. My dorm building was really old with incredible acoustics, and my favorite spot to play was in the stairwell between the 2nd and 3rd floors," adds Victoria.

Going down memory lane, all the way back to 1989 or so, Victoria claims that Shawn Colvin changed her life.

"My parents owned her album, Steady On, and I was addicted to it, I mean, totally obsessed with it, even though I was just a kid. I adored her lyrics. I was probably too young to understand the meaning of her songs, but I interpreted them in my own way. Those lyrics, that drum beat, those weeping guitars... it was all so intense," says Victoria.

After graduating from college, this ambitious and adventurous young soul moved around the east coast for a while before finally settling down in Massachusetts and realizing, after a short stint away from music, "there was this huge hole in my life that I never want to fall into again."

So she began composing in earnest, entering what she calls the "closet musician" stage of her life. But something from within was pushing her, calling her name, begging her to unleash her musical prowess on the world.

Fast forward to the future and today, Victoria just wants to hone and honor her innate musical talent.

"I want to make such a strong connection with my audience that they can actually feel in their bones every song that I sing. And what they might feel could be anything - happiness, sadness, love, pain, you name it," says Victoria.

"Wherever you are, wherever you're going, please take me along for the ride," implores Victoria to anyone within earshot. "And I'll take you with me."