She "was a pioneer in blending the artsiness and attitude of punk with the joyful energy of disco and pop.... [which] helped pave the way for the massive successes of her contemporaries, like Madonna and Cyndi Lauper, and anticipated the rise of confrontational but danceable alt-pop acts..."[1] in a mode that was at once "campy, self-aware, and infectious.

"[5] Cristina Monet Zilkha was born Cristina Monet-Palaci on January 17, 1956, in Manhattan to writer-illustrator Dorothy Monet and French psychoanalyst Jacques Palaci (1915-1995) (president of the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis,[6][7] friend of Heinz Kohut,[8][9] Austrian-born American psychoanalyst and author of Remembering Reik).

[15] Though initially recorded as a tongue-in-cheek pastiche,[1] "Disco Clone" was a cult success and encouraged ZE to release a full-length album in 1980, which was produced by August Darnell of Kid Creole & The Coconuts, and including songs written by Cristina.

[17] Cristina's second album Sleep It Off, on which she retained her sardonic tone,[1] was produced by Don Was and released in 1984 with a sleeve design by Jean-Paul Goude (a year before he used the same idea for Grace Jones).

from this album was included in the Ladytron compilation Softcore Jukebox in 2003, and has been claimed by critic Richie Unterberger as "arguably her signature track".

She later contributed learned essays and reviews to publications such as London's Times Literary Supplement while battling autoimmune disorders, including relapsing polychondritis.

Critic Richie Unterberger at Billboard summed up her career as follows:While Cristina never achieved mainstream success, her wry songwriting, deadpan delivery and infectious beats proved roundly ahead of their time, a touchstone for the electroclash movement of the early '00s, and a precedent for later post-modern pop superstars like Lady Gaga and Lana Del Rey.