|
Monica Denise Brown, simply known as Monica (née Arnold; born October 24, 1980), is an American singer, producer, and actress. Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, she began performing as a child and became part of a traveling gospel choir at the age of ten. Guided and developed by record producers Dallas Austin and Tim & Bob, Monica signed with Arista at age thirteen and released her debut album ''Miss Thang'' in 1995. It sold 1.5 million in the US, while its first two singles "Don't Take It Personal" and "Before You Walk Out of My Life" made her the youngest recording act to ever have two consecutive chart-topping hits on the ''Billboard'' Top R&B Singles chart. She also released her fourth Top 10 hit from the album titled, "Why I Love You So Much". In 1998, Monica's second album ''The Boy Is Mine'' earned her major international chart success. Pushed by its Grammy Award-winning number-one hit title track, a duet with singer Brandy, it spawned two further Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers, "The First Night" and "Angel of Mine", and established her position as one of the most successful of the urban R&B female vocalists to emerge in the mid to late-1990s.〔 The album also featured the Top 10 platinum selling hit "For You I Will", which originated from the film starring Michael Jordan called ''Space Jam'' and its soundtrack. Monica also ventured into acting, with a supporting role in ''Boys and Girls'' (2000), and starring roles in television film ''Love Song'' (2000). During the production of her third album, ''All Eyez on Me'' (2002), Monica experienced personal struggles and her career went under hiatus. In 2003, her fourth album, ''After the Storm'', was released, and after an unsuccessful period, she scored her fifth number one single on the US R&B/Hip Hop, "So Gone". The album also included her Top 20 Billboard Hot 100 hit "U Should've Known Better". Her sixth album, ''Still Standing'', which recording was tracked by her BET reality show ''Monica: Still Standing'', was released in 2010 and produced the hit single "Everything to Me", which became her sixth number one hit on the US R&B/Hip Hop. Monica has sold more than 25 million albums worldwide, including over 10 million units in the United States alone. With a career lasting over 15 years, she became the first artist to top the US ''Billboard'' Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. In 2010, ''Billboard'' listed Monica at number 24 on its list of the Top 50 R&B and Hip Hop Artists of the past 25 years. ==Early life== Monica was born in Atlanta, Georgia on October 24, 1980. She is the only daughter of Marilyn Best, a former church singer and Delta Air Lines customer service representative, and M.C. "Billy" Arnold Jr., a mechanic working for an Atlanta freight company. She has a younger brother, Montez (born in 1983), half brother Jermond Grant on her father's side, and two maternal half-brothers, Tron and Cypress. Monica also is a cousin of record producer Polow da Don, and relative-in-law to rapper Ludacris through her mother's second marriage to Reverend Edward Best, a Methodist minister. At the age of 2, Monica followed in her mother's footsteps with regular performances at the Jones Hill Chapel United Methodist Church in Marilyn's hometown Newnan, Georgia.〔 While growing up in the modest circumstances of a single-parent home after her parents' 1984 separation and 1987 divorce, Monica continued training herself in singing and became a frequent talent-show contestant, winning over 20 local singing competitions throughout her early teenage years.〔 When she was 10 years old, she became the youngest member of "Charles Thompson and the Majestics", which is a traveling 12-piece gospel choir.〔 She also attended North Clayton High School along with rapper 2 Chainz. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Monica (singer)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|