Sista Monica Parker

[1] Once her military service between 1977 and 1980 ended,[8] Parker set up a staffing company, initially based in Chicago, aimed at electrical engineering professions.

[1] Encouraged by her then neighbor MC Hammer,[4] Parker started a singing career in 1992 performing regularly at Emi's Bar & Grille in Santa Cruz, California.

[8] Her track "Windy City Burner" was played on the radio and it helped promote her initial touring around the US, Canada and parts of Europe.

"[1] In 2002 she performed at the Monterey Bay Blues Festival, but late that year was diagnosed as suffering from the rare ailment of synovial sarcoma.

[2] Bouts of chemotherapy, radiation and therapy ensued before she returned to the recording studio and issued Love, Soul & Spirit, Vol.

[4] In 2005, Can't Keep a Good Woman Down included cover versions of Willie Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away" and Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come.