Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, she began performing as a child and joined a traveling gospel choir by the age of ten.

Her seventh, New Life (2012) debuted at number four on the chart despite unfavorable critical response; her eighth album, Code Red (2015) marked her final release with RCA.

Monica Denise Arnold was born in College Park, Georgia, the only daughter of Marilyn Best, a Delta Air Lines customer service representative and former church singer, and M.C.

[6] Monica is also a cousin of record producer Polow da Don,[7] and is related to rapper Ludacris through her mother's second marriage to Reverend Edward Best, a Methodist minister.

[8] At the age of 2, Monica followed in her mother's footsteps with regular performances at the Jones Hill Chapel United Methodist Church in Marilyn's hometown Newnan, Georgia.

[10] In 1991, at the age of eleven, Monica was discovered by music producer Dallas Austin at the Center Stage auditorium in Atlanta, performing Whitney Houston 1986's "Greatest Love of All".

[13] The album yielded three singles, including her debut "Don't Take It Personal (Just One of Dem Days)", and its follow-up "Before You Walk Out of My Life", which made Monica the youngest artist to have two consecutive chart-topping songs on the U.S.

The following year, she was asked to team up with singer Brandy and producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins to record "The Boy Is Mine", the first single from both of their second albums.

[20] It yielded another two U.S. number-one hits with "The First Night" and "Angel of Mine", a cover of Eternal's 1997 single, as well as a remake of Richard Marx' "Right Here Waiting".

Rolling Stone proclaimed it "closer to soul's source... harking back past hip-hop songbirds like Mary J. Blige and adult-contemporary sirens like Toni Braxton",[21] while AllMusic called the album an "irresistible sounding [and] immaculately crafted musical backdrop [...] as good as mainstream urban R&B gets in 1998.

A year later, Monica channeled much of her heavily media-discussed experiences into the production of her third studio album, All Eyez on Me, her first release on her mentor Clive Davis's newly established label J Records.

[23] The first single "All Eyez on Me", a Rodney Jerkins-produced R&B-dance track, saw minor to moderate success on the international charts but failed to enter the higher half of the U.S.

[23] "I don't think people wanted to hear a big fun record from me, after knowing all the things that I had personally experienced", Monica second-guessed her new material which saw both early and heavy bootlegging via internet at that time.

[19] Media reception of the CD was generally enthusiastic, with AllMusic saying the album "has all the assuredness and smart developments that should keep Monica's younger longtime followers behind her—all the while holding the ability to appeal to a wider spectrum of R&B and hip-hop fans.

Titled after Curtis Mayfield's recording "The Makings of You", it saw her particularly reuniting with producers Elliott, Dupri, and Bryan Michael Cox; they had previously contributed to After the Storm.

[29] The album received a positive reception from most professional music critics, with AllMusic calling it a "concise and mostly sweet set of songs",[30] and Entertainment Weekly declaring it "a solid addition" to Monica's discography.

[32] Singles such as snap-influenced "Everytime tha Beat Drop" featuring Atlanta hip-hop group Dem Franchize Boyz and Elliott-produced "A Dozen Roses (You Remind Me)" failed to reach the top forty of the regular pop charts.

[34] The following year, she lent her voice to the ballad "Trust", a duet with Keyshia Cole, that peaked in the top five on Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and joined the cast of Rockmond Dunbar's drama film Pastor Brown.

It focused on finding a hit single for the album's release while balancing her personal life as a full-time mother and dealing with her troubled past.

[37] Featuring production by Stargate, Ne-Yo, and Polow da Don, Still Standing was released in March 2010 and garnered a generally positive response by critics, who perceived its sound as "a return to the mid-'90s heyday" of contemporary R&B.

[40] Monica met future husband and NBA player Shannon Brown in June 2010 when they shot the music video for her second single "Love All Over Me".

[44] In 2011, Monica joined the debut season of the reality talent show The Voice as an adviser to musician coach Cee Lo Green.

[61] A sleeper hit, "Commitment" reached number one on the US Billboard Adult R&B Songs in the week ending July 21, 2019, becoming her first chart topper in nine years.

[59] The release of "Trenches" coincided with Monica and Brandy's appearances on the webcast battle series Verzuz which took place on August 31, at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta.

[65] In October 2020, Monica was featured on the single "Pink" alongside Dolly Parton, Jordin Sparks, Sara Evans and Rita Wilson.

Released as a single by Fortune's FIYA World Entertainment on March 3, 2023, it reached the top 30 on the US Billboard Hot Gospel Songs chart.

The song was co-written by Ciara and the video, released the same day and directed by Richard Selvi, features the Game as Monica's love interest.

[85] Writing that the singer arguably possesses "the best alto of her generation", PopMatters contributor Tyler Lewis said Monica has "always been able to elevate even the most generic material [...] with conviction and the sheer beauty of her voice", despite believing she uses "a little too much vibrato at times".

[89] Monica met rapper Rodney "Rocko" Hill, a former SWA officer and real estate manager, shortly after Weems's suicide, a time which she described as her "weakest".