Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa was born in Yonkers, New York to a African American/Native American mother and a Caucasian father. Mona’s mother is a Pentecostal minister. She was once signed to Island Black Music, a subsidiary of Island Records from 1995-1998 and Def Soul, a subsidiary of Def Jam Records from 1998-1999.

11-20-79 Era:
In 1995, her debut single, “Can’t Be Wasting My Time” was released on the Don’t Be A Menace… soundtrack. Following the success of the single (and her appearance on another soundtrack cut, “Time To Shine” with Lil' Kim), her debut album 11-20-79 (a reference to her birth date) was released, alongside a follow-up single, “You Said”.

Later that year Mona guest-starred on an episode of the Nickelodeon show Kenan & Kel titled “Dial ‘O’ For Oops” as Kenan’s crush, Amy, as well as contributing the holiday track, “Silent Night” to the Island Black Music Records release, A Special Gift.

In 1997, the third (and final) single, a remixed version of “Just Wanna Please U” was released featuring then-Bad Boy Records artist The LOX. Later that year, she also appeared on the Voices of Theory single, “Somehow” with rapper Kurupt.

Gett'n It On Era:
With the Island Black Music Records imprint being dissolved into Def Soul/Island Def Jam, their roster (including Mona, Case, Kelly Price, Montell Jordan, Dru Hill and others) followed suit, and began working on new projects. In 1998, Mona completed work on a second album titled Gett'n It On.

The album’s lead single, “Peach” was serviced to radio DJs, while the title track, “Get'n It On” (slightly different spelling) was released on the soundtrack for the movie Woo.

With her departure from the label in 2000, the album remained unreleased. Soon after, Mona appeared on the mixtape track, “Lead Show” with rapper Willie Lead. Additionally, she began work as a radio DJ in New York.

It wasn’t until 2004, that Mona appeared on a major label recording, singing the hook on rapper Cam'ron’s single, “Girls”. The single ending up peaking at #77 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks Chart.

Ontourage Entertainment Era:
2007 saw Mona signing with Ontourage Entertainment, an independent record label, and appearing on the single, “Get At Me” with rapper Sonja Blade. She has since been at work at her third studio album, tentatively titled “Reckless”. A few songs since then have been leaked online (due to an ever-changing list of songs on her MySpace profile music player), including All I Know and Rapture (featuring Charlemagne).