Mónica Naranjo Carrasco (born 23 May 1974) is a Spanish singer widely popular in Spain and Latin America and recognised as one of the most powerful voices of the Spanish and Latin American music scenes. She has performed with singers such as
Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...
,
Rocío Jurado
María del Rocío Mohedano Jurado (, 18 September 1943 – 1 June 2006), better known as Rocío Jurado, was a Spanish singer and actress. She was born in Chipiona (Cádiz) and nicknamed "La más grande" ("The Greatest").
In 2000 in New York Ci ...
and
Mina Mazzini
Mina Anna Mazzini (born 25 March 1940) or Mina Anna Quaini (for the Swiss civil registry), known mononymously as Mina, is an Italian singer and actress. She was a staple of television variety shows and a dominant figure in Italian pop music from ...
amongst others.
Biography
Early years
Mónica Naranjo was born in
Figueres
Figueres (; ) is the capital city of Alt Empordà county, in the Girona region, Catalonia, Spain.
The town is the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí, and houses the Dalí Theatre and Museum, a large museum designed by Dalí himself which att ...
. Her parents, Francisco, a construction worker, and Patricia, a housewife, migrated from southern Spain (
Seville
Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
and
Málaga
Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...
) to the north in the 1960s. Mónica, who is the oldest daughter in the family, has two younger siblings, Raquel and Enrique. Despite her troubled childhood, when she was only 4, she realised that music was her favourite activity.
At the age of 14, the young Mónica enrolled in 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.
Pop career
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
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...
. 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
La Palabra (Spanish for ''The Word'') may refer to:
* La Palabra (musician), Cuban bandleader, singer-songwriter, pianist, record producer, and arranger
* "La Palabra", an episode on The West Wing (season 6), ''The West Wing'' (season 6)
* ''La P ...
''. 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.
In 2000 she released her third album, ''
Minage
''Minage'' is a tribute album by Spanish recording artist Mónica Naranjo. The album was released on 16 March 2000 by Epic and Sony Music
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music comp ...
'', a tribute to the Italian singer
Mina. In an interview that year, she mentioned that the album was like nothing her producers expected:
''They were expecting another ''Palabra de Mujer'' album, but more than just a hit, I wanted something to let the world know that I am also a fanatic, and that there are many great artists/singers out there who deserve more recognition. An example of such an artist is Mina Mazzini.''
Minage was known for the song "
Sobreviviré
''I Will Survive'' () is a 1999 Spanish romantic comedy-drama film directed by and , starring Emma Suárez and Juan Diego Botto, playing a straight woman and a gay man who fall in love. The film and especially the soundtrack was very successful i ...
", 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
LGBT anthem and a hymn against domestic violence. She performed that song during the "Pavarotti and Friends" gala, where she also performed "Agnus dei" in a duet with the Italian tenor.
In 2001, she released ''
Chicas Malas
''Chicas Malas'' ''(English: Bad Girls)'' is the fourth studio album by Spanish recording singer-songwriter Mónica Naranjo. It was released by Epic and Sony on 26 October 2001. The album features several notable collaborations, with such worldwide ...
'', an album with several collaborations, among them
Diane Warren
Diane Eve Warren (born September 7, 1956) is an American songwriter. She has won an Academy Honorary Award, Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards and three consecutive ''Billboard'' Music Awards for Songwriter of the Year from 19 ...
,
Gregg Alexander
Gregg Alexander (born Gregory Aiuto; May 4, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He served as lead vocalist and guitarist for the short-lived alternative rock band New Radicals, who are best known for the 1998 single "Yo ...
,
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 2001, 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. The album was finally released in 2002, while in some countries it came out in 2003 and 2006. The album was out of print until 2019 and 2020.
Hiatus
After feeling overwhelmed by the music industry in general, and after thinking about her own personal life and career, the performer took the decision of moving away from the stage.
In 2005, after a long break from music, Mónica released a greatest hits album, ''
Colección Privada
''Colección Privada: Grandes Éxitos & Remixes'' is the second greatest hits compilation by Spanish recording artist Mónica Naranjo released on 27 April 2005. The compilation was released in two different formats, the 2CD+DVD edition, containing ...
'', a big success that also included one new release "Enamorada de ti". With this album, Mónica closed a stage in her life and career. In December 2005, she sang "Punto de partida" as a duet with
Rocío Jurado
María del Rocío Mohedano Jurado (, 18 September 1943 – 1 June 2006), better known as Rocío Jurado, was a Spanish singer and actress. She was born in Chipiona (Cádiz) and nicknamed "La más grande" ("The Greatest").
In 2000 in New York Ci ...
in a TV homage titled ''Rocío... Siempre''. In 2004, she recorded a version of Insensatez, from Mina for her album, Sampa Pa Ti. In 2006, she announced she was recording what would be Tarantula, her next album, and in 2007 the participated in a Spanish TV Program called "Sorpresa Sorpresa." She also gave some red made some red carpet appearances.
Return
On 29 February 2008, her new single ''Europa'' was officially launched on her official site climbing to No. 1 in the Spanish Single Charts. The Album ''
Tarántula
''Tarantula'' is the sixth studio-album by Spanish popstar Mónica Naranjo. It was released on 22 April 2008 in Spain after the release of the lead single "Europa", which reached number 1 on the Spanish Singles Chart for 6 consecutive weeks.
Thi ...
'' was made available in stores on 22 April 2008. This album, which marked her return to music after almost seven years reached number 1 in Spain, and was certified Platinum. Later, she released a limited special edition of the album, with a DVD and a photographic book of pictures of the ''
Tarántula
''Tarantula'' is the sixth studio-album by Spanish popstar Mónica Naranjo. It was released on 22 April 2008 in Spain after the release of the lead single "Europa", which reached number 1 on the Spanish Singles Chart for 6 consecutive weeks.
Thi ...
'' era.
Following the success of her latest album ''Tarántula'', Mónica Naranjo embarked on the tour Adagio Tour in which she offered a new vision of her songs and symphonic CD + DVD is a reflection of this journey. The concert included in this album was recorded on 16 October 2009 at the Teatro de la Ciudad de México, with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Mexico City, one of the most prestigious in America, directed by Pepe Herrero, who also signed the new orchestral arrangements. The 16-track CD was mixed and mastered by John M. Vinader. It was released in Mexico and the U.S.
Thanks to the success of ''Tarántula'', in 2010 the singer partnered with Studio Kawaii, (a Madrid-based studio specialised in manga style comics) and released simultaneously two comics, the semiautobiographical "Amor y lujo" and the fictional and futuristic "Todo mentira". Some years she started new projects and also released a recipe book.
In 2011, she sang the theme song for Mexican telenovela ''
Emperatriz'' and in 2012, she released ''
A Opera-Rock'', accompanying a novel in Spanish with a few strokes in other languages. It was co-produced by Mónica and by Óscar Tarruella, and arrangements were by Pepe Herrero and Chris Gordon. The release originally due in 2010 was postponed for release to February 2016 which finally had the title of ''Lubna'', based on a same name novel.
New projects
In 2014, Mónica was part of the jury of the programme ''Tu cara me suena'' (Your face sounds familiar to me) which was broadcast by Antena 3. That same year, she was also a juror in the
Spanish selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, which was won by Ruth Lorenzo, with whom she would perform in future concerts.
In 2017, she was also a juror in Operación Triunfo 2018, whose participation was controversial due to her sincere but also severe critics to the participating performers.
In 2019, Mónica debuted her new television show called ''Mónica y el Sexo'' (Sex and Mónica) on which the performer talks openly about the problems brought by her recent divorce from Óscar Tarruella who had been her husband for 16 years. Her song "Tú y yo y el loco amor" (You and me and that crazy love) was released as the principal song of the OST of the same name film. After that, she started working in a new project called "Mes Excentricités", a project that will be split in three EP's, of which the first one, entitled "Le psiquiatrique" will be released in middle 2019. The first single entitled "Doble Corazón" will be released during the Gay Pride parade in Madrid.
In 2020, the singer presented the popular but at the same time controversial reality show ''"La isla de las tentaciones"'' (Temptation island) and also performed the opening theme of the program. At the same time, she worked on the second volume of the EP series "Mes Excentricités" entitled "Les quatre saisons". This second volume will feature a cover of
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...
's song ''
Creep''.
Mónica released her new single from the album, Mimétika, released in 2022, "Lagrimas de un Angel" on November 4.
Discography
Studio albums
Compilations
Live albums
Singles
(—) means the singles did not chart or were not eligible to chart, as they were sent only as a promo to radios.
Tours
* 1995/1996 – Mónica Naranjo Tour (America)
* 1998, 1999 – Tour Palabra de mujer (Spain/America)
* 2000 – Tour Minage (Spain)
* 2008 – Tarántula Tour (Spain)
* 2009/2010 – Adagio Tour (Spain/America)
* 2011/2012 – Madame Noir (Spain/America)
* 2014 – Mónica Naranjo: 4.0 Tour (Spain)
* 2019/2020 – Mónica Naranjo: Renaissance (Spain/America)
Other works
Television
* ''
El Número Uno
''El Número Uno'' ("The Number One") is a Spanish reality television music competition which started in March 2012, and was renewed for a second season which aired in 2013. In this show, a group of five judges evaluate 100 contestants to find "The ...
'',
Antena 3 (2012). Judge.
* ''
Mira quien va a Eurovisión'',
TVE (2014). Judge.
* ''
Tu cara me suena'', Antena 3 (2014–2017). Judge.
* ''
Operación Triunfo 2017'', TVE (2017–2018). Judge.
* ''Mónica y el Sexo'',
Cuatro
Cuatro, Spanish (and other Romance languages) for the 4, number 4, may refer to:
* Cuatro (instrument), a family of Latin American string instruments, including:
** Cuatro (Venezuela)
** Puerto Rican cuatro
* Cuatro (TV channel), a Spanish free-to ...
(2019). Host.
* ''La isla de las tentaciones'', Cuatro (2019). Host.
* ''Love Never Lies'',
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
(2021–present). Host.
* ''
Benidorm Fest 2023'', TVE (2023). Host.
Other releases
* Amor y lujo, with Studio Kawaii (Manga) (2008)
* Todo mentira, With Studio Kawaii (Manga) (2010)
* Come y calla (Recipe book) (2013)
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naranjo, Monica
1974 births
Living people
Naranjo, Monica
21st-century Spanish singers
21st-century Spanish women singers
Sony Music Spain artists
Women in Latin music