Victoria was promised a distribution deal in North America and Europe. She was promised to work with renowned producer Tolga Katis. She was promised a lot of money. And she was worth all the fuss, after all, because she was just crowned ?the queen of freestyle.? She signed the contract.

The next thing she knew, her song was being played all over Europe, Asia, and North America, being included on compilations, and tearing up the charts.

She was on the right track, playing shows in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Miami, winning Billboard’s 6th Annual Song Contest, and being nominated for a Juno. Then her world came crashing down.

The record company executive disappeared, she was not credited for her tracks, and worst of all, the money owed to her was never paid.

Victoria did not give up. Despite the tribulation she was going through, Victoria returned several years later, in 2002, with ?Together Forever.?

?My reasoning for doing this album,? she tells andPOP, ?was just to get my foot back into the market and say ?I?m still here.??

After releasing ?Together Forever? is June, she toured Europe for 2 and a half weeks in August, performing in London, Paris, Algiers, Rome, Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, and the UK. Her schedule was so packed (?Fly, hotel, change, limo, show, sleep. Fly??), that she only had one day off, which she used to see giraffes and monkeys in Africa.

In Europe, she packed nightclubs and concert venues that hold 2000 people, something she?s not used to back home, where the market is more R&B oriented.

?[Toronto] is home. This is where nobody really knows what I do. Everyone thinks I?m just a classical music teacher. It?s kind of nice to have that separation. Unless I change my style, it?s going to be harder here to get major performances.?

She describes ?Together Forever? as ?commercial dance pop with some really strong ballads.? The 14-track CD features 4 underground remixes from some of Toronto?s top DJs. She also performs a cover of Richard Marx? ?Right Here Waiting.?

?The surprise was when I came back from my European tour, someday else had released [that song] in Toronto.?

The album took about 4 years to complete. In addition to singing, Victoria wrote 5 songs and was involved with the production and song selection.

Besides being a dance artist, Victoria, 34, is a music teacher, an adjudicator for competitions, and has written several music books. She has also owned the York Region Conservatory of Music for the past 19 years. She hopes this album will lead her to record her true passion- opera.

?I have a lot more ability as a classical musician because I?ve been doing it for so long,? she says. ?My goal is to release an operatic album, to show people what I can do, possibly next summer or next spring. That is my love; that is what I do all day long.?

Before recording the operatic album, Victoria hopes to release a 24-track dance compilation, and a children?s CD benefiting charity. She will return to Europe for a week and a half in December, and a week in January.






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