Hailing from Atlanta, Monica is the daughter of divorced parents and has one brother named Montez. She began singing at an early age in the church like her mother. Monica later achieved prominence in the R&B scene at the young age of fourteen in 1995, thanks to producer Dallas Austin, BET, MTV, and urban radio's support for her debut single, the sassy "Don't Take It Personal", which reached #2 on the U.S. charts. Almost immediately, the media drew comparisons between Monica and Brandy who had also emerged as a teen female R&B vocalist just a year earlier. Monica's Rowdy Records debut album, Miss Thang, became a triple platinum success, thanks to the singles "Before You Walk Out Of My Life," and "Why I Love You So Much," which maintained Monica's popularity in hip-hop and on MTV through 1996.
The Boy Is Mine (1998)Monica's mainstream success was boosted in early 1997, when "For You I Will," from the Space Jam movie soundtrack, became a top 10 pop hit. The following year, "The Boy Is Mine," Monica's duet with Brandy and the first single off of both of their sophomore albums, became the biggest hit of the summer and the biggest hit of 1998 in general in America, spending a total of 13 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart and garnering multi-platinum sales of the single. To date, it remains as one of the top ten most successful American singles in history based on Billboard chart success.
Monica maintained her mainstream commercial success with the followup singles "The First Night" and "Angel Of Mine," both of which became number one pop hits in the U.S. and TRL video favorites on MTV. The album's fourth single, "Street Symphony," failed to chart or sell notably in America. Its video received only minor airplay. The album's fifth single "Inside", was not released in the U.S., only Internationally. The album's sixth single "Right Here Waiting" didn't feature a music video.
Monica's career saw troubles between the years 2000 and 2003, during which time she dealt with more personal tribulations including the suicide of her boyfriend. She released some soundtrack singles during this time which failed to take off. She planned to release her third album All Eyez on Me in 2002, but the album was never released in the U.S.; it was only released in Japan. J records stated that the album was not released due to heavy bootlegging of the album. However, some fans believe that the album was pushed back because the title track "All Eyez on Me" failed to become a hit single.
After The Storm (2003)In June 2003, Monica returned with her third album, After The Storm, the new-titled and re-recorded version of her partially scrapped 2002 release All Eyez On Me. It became Monica's most critically-acclaimed album to date, featuring collaborations with Kanye West, Jermaine Dupri, Darkchild, Jazze Pha and executive producer Missy Elliott. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, but sales fell off rapidly, although it was certified platinum by the RIAA in honour of selling over one million copies in the United States. Due to a lack of promotional appearances After The Storm saw minor success abroad.
The album spawned four singles, including its first "So Gone", a Missy Elliott-produced hit that was a staple at urban radio and music video stations during the summer of 2003 and that peaked at #10 on Billboard's Hot 100, becoming Monica's first top ten hit since 1999 and ending up as the most-played song at urban radio for 2003. The second single off the album, "Knock Knock", failed to crack the top 20 of the charts, while simultaneously released "Get It Off" managed to peak at #13 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. The album's fourth single "U Should've Known Better" (originally written for the scrapped All Eyez On Me album) went on to become another hit more than a year after the album's release.
On May 21, 2005, Monica and her fiancè, producer Rodney "Rock" Hill Jr. welcomed a son into the world. The couple named the bundle of joy Rodney Ramone Hill III, after his father.
