Monica

Monica Denise Arnold (formerly Brown; born October 24, 1980) is an American singer, rapper and actress. Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, she began performing as a child and joined a traveling gospel choir by the age of ten. Monica signed with record producer Dallas Austin through his label Rowdy Records in 1993, and gained prominence following the release of her debut studio album, Miss Thang (1995). Her follow up releases were met with further commercial success; her second, The Boy Is Mine (1998) remains her best-selling album and spawned three Billboard Hot 100-number one singles: "The Boy Is Mine" (with Brandy), "The First Night" and "Angel of Mine". She then parted ways with Arista and Rowdy Records in favor of Clive Davis' J Records upon the label's launch in 2000. Her Japan-exclusive third album, All Eyez on Me (2002) was met with a steep critical and commercial decline, although its partial re-issue, After the Storm (2003), served as her fourth album and became her first to debut atop the US Billboard 200. Executive produced and largely written by rapper Missy Elliott, it was led by the single "So Gone", which peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100. Her fifth and sixth albums, The Makings of Me (2006) and Still Standing (2010) also peaked atop the Billb... ()