Victoria Kimani was born 28th, July 1985. She is a Kenyan singer, songwriter, actress and entertainer. She was previously signed to Nigerian Record Label Chocolate City and was described as the record label’s first lady. As a singer, she is popularly known for her numerous hits and sense of style. Her penetration into the African music industry has earned her a number of nominations, with her singles receiving numerous airplay across Africa. Her debut album was expected in 2016.
Kimani was born in Los Angeles, California to clergy parents. She has two older brothers. She lived in Benin City, Nigeria for 2 years, where her parents were doing missionary work. She began singing at the age of 9 and at age 16, she began performing alongside other church choir members as a back-up and writing songs for others.
Before moving back to her mother country, Kenya, she met one of her fan named Bright Chukwuma who had a life long crush on her. Rumours has it that this young man refused to date anyone else other than Victoria .She later dropped out to fully pursue a career in music. In 2010, Kimani performed a remix of Ice Prince’s hit single “OLEKU” (remixed by Nathaniel Williams Jr.), which caught the attention of Chocolate City executive Ice Prince who she dated for 2 years. In late 2012, she was the first female artiste signed by Nigeria’s music label Chocolate City. She released her first single under the label, “Mtoto”, the Swahili word for “child”, in March 2013. The video was shot in Los Angeles.
Subsequently she released several mixtapes. In 2014, she released the single “Show”, produced by singer and producer Tekno Miles. Later in 2014, she released “Prokoto”, a Congolese word that means “swagger.” She featured Tanzanian artists, Diamond Platnumz and Ommy Dimpoz.
In February 2015, Kimani joined forces with divas Cynthia Morgan and Emma Nyra and released the video “Vex”. On 23 July 2015, she released the video “Two of Dem”. In May 2015, she released her work “Loving You”, in which she collaborated with Nigerian label mate, Ice Prince. On 4 November 2015 she released “Booty Bounce”.
On 21 January 2016, Kimani released her new single “All the Way”, featuring Khuli Chana. The song pays homage to renowned artist Angelique Kidjo in her classic “Wombo Lombo”. The video was shot in Johannesburg,South Africa and was produced by Reinhard.
The singer released “Safari” the album released in December 2017, and features high profile collaborations from stars across the continent. Sarkodie, Khuli Chana, Jesse Jagz, Phyno and Ice Prince.
One of Chocolate City’s bragging credentials in the African music space rests on the fact that they have talents not just in Nigeria, but in other countries. But Kimani’s imminent exit threatened that due to the expiration of her contract.
In December 2017 the singer granted an interview with Adelle Onyango and Shaffie Weru on Breakfast with the Stars, Victoria revealed that her contract with Chocolate City had expired and it was time for her to be an independent artiste. She said, “You know like every contract has an expiry date. The contract was over and to be honest with you, most of the time I was on the label, I felt like an independent artiste anyway. I did most things by myself. So it was just time for me to step out on my own and do my own thing and not have to split money with anybody.”
