Derik John Baker, better known as Virginia To Vegas, is an American-Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter. He is based in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Ontario. He is best known for his gold and platinum-certified singles, "

We Are Stars "We Are Stars" is the first single released by the Canadian pop rock singer Virginia to Vegas, featuring the Canadian recording artist Alyssa Reid. The song was written by Derik John Baker (Virginia to Vegas) and Reid with Jamie Appleby, Nathan Fer ...

", "

Lights Out Lights Out may refer to: Events and times * Institutional, and thence colloquial, term for bedtime * Lights Out (event), an event in the UK on 4 August 2014 to commemorate the start of World War I * Lights Out Hong Kong, a campaign to protest ai ...

", "Selfish", "Just Friends" and "Betterman", released through Wax Records and

Ultra Records Ultra Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, which is a subsidiary of Sony Music Group. Company history Established in 1995 in New York City by Patrick Moxey, a former executive of PolyGram and Virgin Records ...

Early life and education

Although Derik John Baker was born in the

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, Virginia, United States, he was raised in

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...

and

, in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada, as well as Charleston in

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

, United States. He attended high school at

Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute The Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute (GCVI, Guelph C.V.I., GC) is a public high school located in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. The school is the oldest continuously operating public high school in Guelph, and the third oldest in the province of ...

and Bishop Macdonell Catholic High School. After high school, Derik attended

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology, is a public polytechnic institute partnered with private Canadian College of Technology and Trades operating campuses ...

for studies in travel and tourism.

Career

2013–2014: Career beginnings and ''Vol. I''

Virginia To Vegas was signed to an independent full service 100% Canadian music company Wax Records in July 2013, after label executive, Jamie Appleby, discovered him on YouTube. The first single "

" was released on January 7, 2014, and entered the Canadian Singles Top 100 chart at 94 on week 5, February 1, 2014, peaked at 14 and stayed for one week. On November 10, 2014, Virginia to Vegas released his debut EP ''Vol. I'', which includes his Platinum-certified debut single "We Are Stars".

2015–2016: ''Utopian''

Virginia to Vegas released a new single, "

Our Story Our or OUR may refer to: * The possessive form of "we" Places * Our (river), in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany * Our, Belgium, a village in Belgium * Our, Jura, a commune in France Other uses * Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a Politics ...

", on May 4, 2015. On September 2, 2016, he released a new single, "

", which samples Rockwell's 1984 single, "

Somebody's Watching Me "Somebody's Watching Me" is a song recorded and written by American singer Rockwell, released by the Motown label in December 1983, as the lead single from his debut studio album of the same name. It features guest vocals by Michael Jackson w ...

". That fall, he announced that his debut studio album would be released by the end of 2016. ''

Utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', which describes a fictional island soci ...

'' was released on December 2, 2016 and features all four of his singles released through that date. This was when he first got signed to a U.S record company of

2017–2019: ''Hartland St.''

On February 24, 2017, Virginia To Vegas released a new single called "Selfish". On November 8, he released another single called "Emotions". His next single "Yesterday" was released on October 12, 2018. Finally, he released "Just Friends" on May 24, 2019. All these songs are featured on his second EP ''Hartland St.'', which was released on June 14, 2019. Hartland Street is the name of the actual street he lives on in real life. This was when he moved to, was living in, and was leaving Los Angeles at a time.

2020–2022: ''A Constant State of Improvement'' and ''Don't Wake Me, I'm Dreaming''

Only months after the release of ''Hartland St.'', Virginia To Vegas released the single "Betterman" on February 14, 2020, followed by an EP titled ''A Constant State of Improvement'' on February 28, 2020, which includes the song "Betterman". On October 30, 2020, he released another EP, ''Don't Wake Me, I'm Dreaming'', which includes the lead single "Palm Springs (The Way You Made Me Feel)", released on September 18. In September 2021, he collaborated with

MacKenzie Porter MacKenzie Lea Porter (born January 29, 1990) is a Canadian country singer, songwriter, and actress. She has released two albums (''MacKenzie Porter'' and '' Nobody's Born with a Broken Heart'') and achieved four Canada Country number ones with " ...

on the single "

This Sucks. "This Sucks." (stylized as "this sucks.") is a song co-written and recorded by Canadian pop music, pop artist Virginia to Vegas and Canadian country pop artist MacKenzie Porter. The two wrote the song with Lowell (musician), Lowell, Nathan Ferra ...

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Extended plays

Compilation extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Promotional singles

Awards

Virginia to Vegas performed at the 2014

Canadian Radio Music Awards The Canadian Radio Music Awards is an annual series of awards presented by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters that was part of Canadian Music Week The Departure Festival + Conference, formerly known as Canadian Music Week, is an industr ...

where he was nominated for the Heartseeker Award. His radio success with his first three singles "We Are Stars", "Don't Fight the Music", and "Our Story" contributed to him being nominated for Pop Artist or Group of the Year at the 2015

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...

Indie Awards. "We Are Stars", "Lights Out" and "Selfish" all earned Virginia to Vegas

Socan The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 175,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collect ...

awards for pop recordings of the year. In 2015 Virginia to Vegas was awarded at the Canadian Radio Music Awards for the Factor Breakthrough Artist of the Year. He received a

Juno Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...

nomination for Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the

Juno Awards of 2018 The Juno Awards of 2018, honouring Canadian music achievements, were presented in Vancouver, British Columbia during the weekend of 24–25 March 2018. The primary telecast ceremonies were held at Rogers Arena. Vancouver previously hosted the Juno ...

."Arcade Fire and Daniel Caesar lead 2018 Juno Award nominations"

CBC Music CBC Music (formerly known as CBC FM, CBC Stereo and CBC Radio 2) is a Canadian FM radio network operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It used to concentrate on classical and jazz. In 2007 and 2008, the network transitioned towards a ...

, February 6, 2018.

References

External links

''Billboard'' Artist Page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Virginia to Vegas Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century Canadian male singers American emigrants to Canada American expatriates in Canada American male pop singers American male singer-songwriters American pop rock singers Canadian male singers Canadian male singer-songwriters Canadian pop singers Musicians from Guelph 21st-century Canadian singer-songwriters Musicians from Charleston, West Virginia Musicians from Richmond, Virginia