Monica's Biography
Monica Arnold may be young, but
she knows about attitude.
Confident, intelligent, self-possessed
and self assured. Wise beyond
her years, but still playful.
Some people might wonder just what a
teenager could possibly have to say.
The answer, for Monica, is plenty.
MISS THANG is Monica's Rowdy
Records debut, and it's a potent,
persuasive and personal statement from a
young woman who's heading up the new
breed of female R&B singers. Such is the
depth and soulfulness of MISS THANG
and of Monica's powerful vocals that it's
hard to believe she only turned
fourteen in October and has just entered
the ninth grade when she released that album.
With songs written and produced by the
incomparable Dallas Austin and his
all-star DARP producers Tim & Bob
(Boyz II Men), Colin Wolfe (Dr. Dre,
Madonna) and Arnold Hennings
(TLC, Tracie Spencer),
MISS THANG is a solid, funky, sassy
and knowing collection that represents
both Monica and the way young girls are
living.
More than just a collection of songs
written by a man trying to perpetuate
teenage reality, the album was composed
with Monica's input, and with one
particular young lady in mind; Monica
herself.
Take the powerhouse first single, "Don't
Take it Personal." Straight-ahead funky,
both in the beat and in the message,
"Don't Take It Personal" is Monica's
credo. Directed to a boyfriend who
sweating her to spend more time with
him, the track is a soulful announcement
that Monica can walk the walk, talk the
talk, and live her life with pride and
confidence. Lines like
"It's just one of those days when I wanna
be all alone...It's just one of them thangs...
Don't take it personal" set the tone.
Monica has an amazing sense of self, especially for
someone her age, and this clearly comes across in her
music. The title track takes the assuredness of 'Don't
Take It Personal' to the next level, as Monica asserts,
"It's all right for me to think It's all about me..."
Commenting on Monica's confident and sassy
personality, Dallas states, "She's a young girl with and
old soul." She had to have been a jazz or blues singer in
a past life.
The strength of Monica's album and attitude caught the
attention of Queen Latifah, who happened to hear an
advance of MISS THANG while visiting Atlanta.
Latifah arranged to meet Monica, and immediately
offered to manage her through Flavor Unit Management
Company.
Born and raised in Atlanta's College Park, Monica's
musical ambitions have always been supported by her
family. Monica began singing in her local church choir at
the tender age of four, and quickly rose from the chorus
to a soloist. Word of the child prodigy with phenomenal
skills began to filter around Atlanta. Vocally inspired by
the likes of Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin and
Rachelle Farrell, Monica was encouraged to enter local
talent contests and eventually won over twenty of them.
It was at one of these shows that fate, in the persona of
Dallas Austin intervened.
Dallas' rep is well known. A bit of a wunderkind himself
at twenty-three, his list of credits is diverse: Madonna,
Joi, TLC, Boyz II Men, Grace Jones and Highland
Place Mobsters, to name a few. Noted for his visionary
approach to soul and pop, Dallas saw and heard that
"certain something" in Monica and immediately offered
her a deal with his Arista -distributed Rowdy Records
label.
"Working with Dallas was hard work, but he made it
fun. "He really helped me feel the meaning of the songs
and bring my own point of view in," Monica says of her
"daddy" Dallas, who claims, "Monica is the most gifted
and innately talented singer I've worked with. Her
phrasing and interpretation came very naturally
."
Monica's new album shows her maturing in a lot of ways but she still
delivers her music in her own style and still has a lot to say and her own
unique way of saying it.
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Email: monica.a@eudoramail.com
