Victoria Robertson

November 2004
By Jay Allen Sanford

You may have heard 25-year-old Victoria Robertson singing in the chorus with the San Diego Opera over the past five years (most recently Madama Butterfly) or soloing the national anthem at a Miramar Air Show. Or you may have seen her modeling in international print ads and catalogs for Kyocera cell phones and Road Runner Sports. If you hang around La Jolla’s Living Room on Thursday nights, you might have caught her with acoustic guitar (Taylor model 414, made in El Cajon) and perhaps a band, performing (self-described) “Acoustic-pop-Sheryl-Crow-meets-jewel-with-a-touch-of-Sarah-McLachlan” style originals. If you’re in the armed forces, however, you probably know her as Miss USO San Diego, a post she’s held since shortly after relinquishing her Miss San Diego crown from the 1998 Miss America competition. “People think the USO died with Bob Hope, World War II, or maybe Vietnam, but the entertainment department is still out there playing all kinds of training bases, all over the world, in war and in peacetime. We’ve even landed on aircraft carriers, coming down in this little plane on a postage-stamp-sized spot on the ocean and then playing on a stage at the flight line!”
Accommodations for her and her backup band are paid by the USO when they perform far-flung places like Germany, England, the Netherlands, and Thule Air Base in Greenland (where only 700 troops were stationed). “The A-list performers are building morale in the war zones. We get sent to the other places where the support troops are warming up.” She says she’d have no problem going to a hot zone like Iraq. “I’ll sing wherever they send me, wherever they think I can do some good. No matter what you politics are, whether you’re for or against the war itself, the men and women in uniform are just doing their job. They deserve support.”
Only one other state has a Miss USO – New York – and that post is voted annually via pageantry and judges. “I’m told they’ll let me be Miss USO San Diego until either the troops don’t like me anymore or I can’t sing. I hope that’s a long time away. Boy, that’ll be a sad day when they come up to me and say, ‘It’s time.’”
A CD-release party for Robertson’s On My Mind is set for Lestat’s in Kensington tomorrow night, November 12. It’s available locally and at www.victoriarobertson.com.
- San Diego Reader

January 2005
By Manny Cruz

If Victoria Robertson had her way, she would be Miss USO San Diego for life. That’s how much she’s enjoyed her role as a singing ambassador to the men and women of the armed forces. She’s been doing it for the past five years, so why stop now?
“I’ll ride it out for a while,” says Robertson with a wink. “I want to always be involved with the USO.”
The blonde, blue-eyed singer and songwriter, a resident of North Park, was crowned Miss San Diego in 1998. When her reign ended, she asked USO officials if she could perform for the troops. They not only said yes, but gave her the title – one of only two Miss USOs in the United States. She shares that distinction with Lynelle Johnson, New York’s Miss USO 2004.
Robertson, 25, says she fell in love with the military when she was just a child. “I grew up when ‘Top Gun’ was the most popular movie of the time,” she says. “I think I’ve watched it over 200 times. It’s still my favorite.”
That kid from New Jersey moved to Northern California with her family when she was 13. She came to San Diego in 1997 to attend UCSD, coming away with a bachelor’s degree in cinematography.
When she’s not touring with the USO and Armed Forces Entertainment, she’s singing with the chorus of San Diego Opera, performing every Monday night at Caffe Forte on University Avenue and running a production company promoting her new CD release, “On My Mind.” She’s also working as a professional model. Her last big photo shoot was for an international Kyocera Wireless advertisement.
More than anything, though, Robertson says she loves performing before armed services personnel around the world. “They seem like the perfect audience – hungry for entertainment,” she says.
Robertson’s tours with Armed Forces Entertainment took her across England and Germany last year. She’s also entertained in Greenland and is looking forward tot a month-long visit to U.S. military installations in the Mediterranean area in April. She has sung in numerous USO shows aboard aircraft carriers and in desert training grounds and the annual air show at Miramar.
Robertson’s production company is a collaborative effort involving producer-engineer Alan Sanderson, who runs the Strate Sound Studio, and bass player and artistic director Crew Decker. The CD the company is promotion contains eight of Robertson’s pop tunes. An album with all new material is in the works. The “On My Mind” CD can be purchased online at www.victoriarobertson.com for $11. It also is sold at Acoustic Expressions, M-Theory Music, and Caffe Forte.
- North Park News

September-October 2004
By John Philip Wyllie

With her long blond hair, beautiful blue eyes, and sparkling personality, singer-songwriter Victoria Robertson seems like the quintessential California girl. In truth, Robertson grew up near Princeton, New Jersey in a small suburb called Pennington. Her appearance, however, is more reminiscent of a classic surfer girl gracing the cover of a Beach Boys album.
In 1997, Robertson enrolled at UCSD to study filmmaking and music. It didn’t take her long to adjust to America’s Finest City and feel as if she had lived here all of her life. A year later she was named Miss San Diego and was a finalist in the Miss California competition. At 19, she became the youngest member of the San Diego Opera chorus. Then in 1999 she was named Miss USO San Diego, a title she still retains today. Her involvement with the USO has provided her many opportunities to perform in front of live audiences.
With a dynamic new band behind her, the energetic Robertson (vocals and guitar), is hoping to make her mark. Veteran recording engineer/producer Alan Sanderson is also on board. Sanderson was instrumental in producing Robertson’s just-completed debut album. Having worked with an impressive list of artist, including Elton John, the Rolling Stones, and Elvis Costello, she appears to be in good hands. Recording at San Diego’s Studio West, Robertson came away very impressed with the studio’s state-of-the art facilities and the expertise of its engineers.
“I wrote all of the eight songs on the album and Alan helped me to arrange them,” Robertson said recently while sipping coffee at North Park’s Caffe Forte. “The best part of the album is that each song is different. Whit some CDs, by the third song you find yourself asking, haven’t I heard this before? You might have one or two favorites, but all of the rest of them sound the same.” Drawing upon a varied background that includes musical theater and classical music as well as fold, pop, and jazz, Robertson likes to mix things up.
“The song that is getting the most attention right now is “On My Mind,” but every song has a different feel to it. That way, I think it appeals to a wider audience,” Robertson said. “All of my songs have stories that go with them. They are about things that everybody can relate to like relationships and it’s a happy album. You are not going to find a lot of the mellow, depressing ballads that so many singers indulge in. I like to lift people’s spirits with my songs.”
Since 1999, Robertson has been lifting the spirits of the men and women serving in our armed forces.
“My family is not a military family, but I have always been interested in helping out,” Robertson explained. Following a tip she got during a mayor’s office gig, Robertson auditioned for a job with a USO touring group, which since landing it, has taken her all over the world.
“Last New Year’s Eve we traveled to a tiny air base in Thule, Greenland. It’s right up there by the North Pole. It was minus 50 degrees, but they took good care of us,” Robertson recalled. She has also performed at bases in the England, Holland, and Germany for many of the soldiers who are now fighting in Iraq.
“Once I became Miss USO the question became what I was going to do with my title. The whole point is to perform some sort of community service,” she said. Over the last five years, Robertson has performed dozens of shows in an effort to bring our soldiers and sailors a little taste of life back home.
She said, “Being San Diego’s Miss USO has been a wonderful experience. The audiences have been completely appreciative. Those guys on the carriers are often gone for six months at a time and we appreciate everything they do for us, so it’s nice to be able to give a little something back to them.”
On her upcoming album, Robertson will be dedicating a song to them titled “Sail Back to Me.” In the meantime, she will continue performing both as a solo act and with her band at various clubs and coffeehouses such as Humphrey’s by the Bay and Caffe Forte. For a complete list of Robertson’s upcoming performances, information about her soon-to-be-released CD, and more, got to www.victoriarobertson.com.
- Troubadour

September-October 2004
By RR

Wow, this was a nice find. Amazing music from this local singer/songwriter. Victoria Robertson came to San Diego in ’97 from New Jersey for UCSD and won the 1998 “Miss San Diego” pageant. Among her credits: she’s currently “Miss USO San Diego” and sings for the San Diego Opera. You know, dear readers, every now and then in this music zine-writing biz I find a release by a performer who is so talented, so great, so worthy of national, even worldwide, exposure, and who is secretly playing for coffeehouse crowds, it makes me think there is no justice in the world. Robertson’s music should be on movie soundtracks, at least! Check her out, before she gets picked up by a major label and whisked off to LA or New York. A very polished, sophisticated performer here on this well produced 8-song CD. [www.victoriarobertson.com]
- Reviewer Magazine

June 2004

“Be part of the American spirit” is the reason Victoria Robertson gave for her performance at the 2004 San Diego County Fair. A former Miss San Diego in 1998 and Miss USO San Diego for the last five years, Robertson has traveled all over the United States and to U.S. Bases in Greenland and Germany. She has also performed on the USS John C. Stennis, USS Constellation, and USS Abraham Lincoln.
Robertson is one of only two Miss USOs, along with Miss USO New York. Her musical background is truly diverse from five years with the San Diego Opera to singing the National Anthem at the Miramar Air show. Her band’s sound has been described as original folk pop. Next up for this six-foot model and performer is a busy July including a possible performance on the USS Ronald Reagan, along with the release of her CD, “On My Mind.”
This is her first year at the San Diego Fair and she performed her second show at the San Diego Showcase Stage on June 24th. Robertson hopes to be a part of our Fair spirit for years to come.
For more information about our own Miss USO San Diego go to www.victoriarobertson.com
- San Diego County Fair