VV Brown has had a hugely successful past eighteen months in the UK and the US. Yet unlike many of the reality show singers thrust into stardom overnight, her achievements are being realised after years of unseen hard work and unglamorous graft.

Born in Northampton to a Puerto Rican father and Jamaican mother, VV is the eldest of six children. A close-knit family, VV visibly lights up as she recalls them, likening her childhood to “The Cosby Show”. Fascinated by music from an early age, she learned to play the piano, the organ, the drums and the trumpet. At just five years old she wrote her first song and by fourteen she was singing in the gospel choir of her family church.

When asked how and why she chose music, unlike most “stage children”, there was no epiphany. “Some of it was being at the right place at the right time, I was always interested in music at home and I was raised in the gospel church. I was interested in classical music and joined a funk band when I was 14.” Not many parents would have been so supportive of their young daughter joining a band over a hundred miles away, but VV’s mother drove her to and from rehearsals on a weekly basis, whilst she did her homework in the passengers seat.

At seventeen VV sat her A-levels a year early, achieved four “A” grades and was offered a place at Oxford University to study Law. However VV’s interests did not lie with academia. Her brief time in the band had planted a seed, “I got a taste of the industry and knew I wanted to be a part of it”. She turned down the place at Oxford. Instead VV left the comfort of Northampton to make it as a singer in London.

In London VV began to hustle on the session circuit. She soon provided backing vocals for Madonna and Westlife. VV was not content with standing in the background and she resolved to get her own record deal. When she was signed to Polydor Records in 2003 it seemed like things were falling into place. Tipped as the next big thing, she moved to LA to record her first album.

Initially LA seemed fruitful. VV began working with acclaimed producers and a song she penned appeared on The Pussycat Dolls’ debut album. Things soon began to unravel. VV was dropped by her record company and her relationship with her (then) boyfriend came to an end. With no choice but to return to England, VV had to sell her keyboard to pay her airfare back to London.

VV found herself back at square one. “I had a lot of failures, lots of rejections that I still get and will still get. But persistence is key and I think it’s helped me get where I am.” And persist she did. Writing songs on her one-stringed guitar, VV threw all her energy into finding herself and her sound. The hard work soon paid off and she was singed to Island Records. In 2009 she released her first single “Crying Blood” and later released her debut album Travelling Like The Light.

A free spirit with bundles of energy VV describes the process of making the first album as “…completely experimental. I came out of a really bad place where I’d lost my sense of self and I kind of found myself again through that experimentation. I finally came to a place of trust, trusting I liked what I liked, rather than what everyone else liked. Also wanting to do music because I loved it, not because it was a career.” Strangely, despite a high profile media presence and critical acclaim, Traveling Like The Light failed to set the charts alight. Embraced by the fashion community, VV was more known for her distinctive quiff and unique sense of style, than a signature song.

Undeterred at the beginning of this year VV decided she would try and crack America. “I made it my mission that this time round when I started again in America it wouldn’t be about being a fashion press baby. It would be about the music.” Her relentlessness paid off and she soon began performing on a string of America’s biggest shows, including Late Show with David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Ellen Degeneres Show. 

Whilst in the UK VV was recgonised more for fashion than in her music, in the US it was the other way around. “It’s surreal I never thought I would be embraced by America at all. And I think they know me more for my music than this press baby that I am in England.” Whilst gigging stateside, VV received a life changing phone call that altered her positioning in the UK market. Alongside Twiggy, Lisa Snowdon, Danni Minogue and Ana Beatriz Barros, VV was asked to become one of the faces of Marks & Spencer.

The week VV was shot by “The Tip’ she’d just finished shooting their Christmas advertisement and still seemed unable to take it all in. “I was really really honoured and flattered when I received that contract. They’re a British institution!”. VV’s exposure in England is now at all time high. And with few positive young Black British female role models with mainstream visibility, VV’s inclusion in such a campaign marks one step closer towards big brands understanding the need for diversity.

With a burgeoning music career and being the newest face of Marks & Spencer, naturally the next step is the second album. As ever, approaching it with her arms wide-open, VV told us “I have no idea about the sound but I’m going to start working on it as soon as I stop travelling.” She does exclusively reveal to “The Tip”, “It’s going to be a darker record and I’m possibly working with Q-Tip! It’ll be out next summer and the first single out second quarter. But who knows? I just think it’s important that it’s right. I’d also like to establish my musical identity stronger in England.”

Quiet determination is the resounding feeling I get from her. When asked to give advice to “The Tip” woman, VV pauses for a moment then says emphatically, “Trust yourself. Learn from your mistakes, be humble enough to know there’s always room to improve, take risks and never underestimate the importance of your individuality.” Wise words indeed.

VV Brown’s graphic novel “The City of Abacus” is now available for purchase at www.thecityofabacus.com

After graduating with an LLB (hons) degree and working in a Solicitor’s firm, Assumpta – the self confessed ‘optimistic realist’, turned down her training contract to pursue her passion for all things poetry and prose and study Creative and Professional Writing (MA). She now works as a freelance writer.