OurStage

Monica Mancillas was born in the small coastal town of Ensenada, Mexico during a time when artistic expression and social evolution were both thriving and explosive. Raised from an early age with a keen awareness of the human condition, Monica's formative years set the stage for her development as an intuitive and emotive artist whose music and lyrics today resonate with this early understanding. By the tender age of six, she was performing at her first piano recital, and it was not long after that she would pick up her first solo performance as the little girl with the big voice.

At age eleven, Monica was accepted to the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts, where she spent the next six years honing her skills, performing, and touring as a singer, pianist, and dancer. Excelling in both the arts and her academic studies, Monica chose to study at the esteemed University of California at Berkeley, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology with the highest of honors. It was during this time of study and introspection that Monica awoke one day to a new calling. Having enrolled in a jazz improvisation class, she found herself inspired to write a jazz ballad for her grandparents' fiftieth anniversary. Unable to sleep from the sheer excitement of this newfound talent, she spent the next several months writing and recording her first collection of songs.

In 2000, decided upon a career in the recording arts, Monica moved from the Bay Area to Los Angeles where she promptly secured a position as Manager of a hip West Hollywood recording studio. Able at last to put her budding skills as an engineer and producer to work in a commercial facility, Monica spent the next few years writing, recording, producing and advancing herself within the industry. In 2003, she was offered a position at the esteemed Musicians Institute in Hollywood, where she now works as the first-ever female Director of the audio engineering department (RIT). Monica now enjoys the release of her first commercial album, entitled "On the Brink". A fusion of alternative rock and those soul and jazz influences that so impressed Monica in her formative years, the album is celebrated by listeners for both its variety and its unique and thematic energy. "I love every song on it," says one fan. "It would be hard to choose a favorite. I'll be listening to this one for a while." Monica also celebrates the release of her first video, entitled "Still Here".