Mónica Naranjo Carrasco was born on May 23 1974, she is a Spanish singer widely popular in Spain and Latin America and recognized as one of the most powerful voices of the Spanish and Latin American music scenes. She has performed with singers such as Luciano Pavarotti, Rocío Jurado and Mina Mazzini amongst others. Mónica Naranjo was born in Figueres. Her parents, Francisco, a construction worker and Patricia a housewife, migrated from southern Spain to the north in the 1960s. Mónica, who is the oldest daughter of the family has two younger brothers Raquel and Enrique. Despite her troubled childhood, when she was only 4, she realized that music was her favorite activity. At the age of 14, the young Mónica enrolled a music school to learn singing and she also was given a voice recorder as a present so that she could start composing and recording her own songs. She started singing at a very young age. Cristóbal Sánsano became her first producer. At 18, she emigrated to Mexico. In 1994, she recorded her debut album, the self-titled Mónica Naranjo, after signing with Sony Music. The album resulted in the hit singles "Sola", "Solo se vive una vez", "El amor coloca", "Supernatural", "¡Óyeme!" and "Fuego de pasión". She was nominated for Eres Awards. Although the album went almost unnoticed in Spain, it had a great reception in Mexico, where it sold more than 900,000 copies. In 1997, taking advantage of her popularity in Latin America, she released her second album, Palabra de Mujer. This time, the album was a hit not only in Mexico, but also in Spain, her home country. managing to sell more than 2,000,000 copies. This success in Spain enabled the singer to return to her home country, and to perform in numerous TV programmes. The album was also successful in the United States, Latin America, thanks to singles such as "Entender el amor", "Desátame", "Pantera en libertad" and "Las campanas del amor". Due to the success of this album, she was awarded with the Amigo Award for the best Spanish female solo artist. Minage was known for the song Sobreviviré, a hit song that would turn into one of the most remembered and representative hits of the singer. This song, which is a cover of Mina Mazzini's "Fiume azurro" is not only considered a fight song, but also an LGTB anthem and a hymn against domestic violence. She performed that song during the "Pavaroti and Friends" gala, where she also performed "Agnus dei" in a duet with the Italian tenor. In 2001, she released Chicas Malas, an album with several collaborations, among them Diane Warren, Gregg Alexander, John Reid, Cliff Masterson, Sam Watters, and many more. Having such worldwide-known influences, the commercial dance album sales were disappointing, having sold only 120,000 copies in its first year, making it the lowest-selling studio album in her Spanish-singing career. In 2002, she decided to make a big leap into the English language public by recording the English version of "Chicas Malas" named "Bad Girls". The international push met very little support, although the song "I Ain't Gonna Cry" did get Mónica some recognition in continental Europe.

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