Monique Bingham is a Jamaican-American vocalist, songwriter and composer born in Brooklyn New York. On October 7, 2023 she performed her 2015 collaboration “Deep in the Bottom of Africa” with Grammy award winner DJ Black Coffee to a sold out crowd at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden. 20,000 house fans from around the globe sang in what was a watershed moment for the genre and Monique. She has been described by Grammy winning producer Louie Vega as “one of house music’s most prized possessions.” Her career, now entering its fourth decade, has produced over 40 original recordings and distinguished her as a standout lyricist who continues to captivate audiences worldwide.
Her journey began on the streets of New York at the height of the 1990’s Acid Jazz wave. Bands like Brand New Heavies, Jamiroquai and Incognito were lighting up dance floors from New York to LA to the UK. Still in college, the self-described playwright was asked to front the short-lived jazz collective Abstract Truth. Francois Kevorkian’s Wave Music would release their EP and 1st single, “Get Another Plan” penned by Monique. Legendary DJ Gilles Peterson copped it for a remix project on his Talkin Loud label in ‘96 and introduced Monique’s voice to the UK airwaves. The band’s certified classic, the 1998 follow up “We Had a thing,” (remixed by Matty Hielbronn) injected Monique into the veins of house music and the ears of the scene’s premier DJs and producers. Its inclusion on South African DJ Fresh’s “Fresh House Flavas I” in 1998 introduced her to the region that would make her a house music mainstay.
2000 saw her first solo offering. Collaborations like “Keep it Pure” with west coast label Naked Music, “Flight” with Tokyo production outfit Studio Apartment and “Don’t You love Me” with London’s Sir Piers, all started turning her NY underground base into a global cult following. Her unique vocal phrasing is matched by a lyrical wit unlike any other on the dancefloor. Club records can render most vocalists anonymous. Tenacity and relentless touring throughout the decades have put her face and name to the songs people had been dancing to for years. From concert halls to dive bars, festivals and arenas with thousands, to black room clubs all over the world, she would churn out deeply felt, raw performances. By the time gritty after-hours anthems like “You Can’t Have New York” and “Poor People” with Quentin Harris hit the street, Monique had become synonymous with the cream of the underground crop. She started her own label, Bigga Sounds in 2006 and would release records with maestros Kerri Chandler, Dennis Ferrer and Todd “the God” Terry. Her tune “Kissing Strangers” with German producer Ralf Gum would be DJ go-to Traxsource.com’s most downloaded single of 2008.
2011 saw the release of her first fully self-composed, produced, arranged, written and
performed single, “You.Me.World.” Her popularity in South Africa had been brewing for a decade. The country’s love of house music is unparalleled. When she touched down at the 12th annual Cape Town Jazzfest that March, Monique and her sextet were greeted with enthusiastic fans singing her lyrics word for word. She took the same stage as music icons Wayne Shorter, Earth Wind and Fire and the late great Bra Hugh Masekela with whom she would later collaborate on a song entitled “With Her Hand.” But it was her 2012 track “Take Me to My Love” produced by Ralf Gum, that truly changed the game. This timeless vocal excursion took South Africa by storm and was at the top of every radio chart that year. Their follow up “The Pap” affixed her name to every major festival bill in the region for years. The 2015 release of
her 25 track anthology, Best of the Last 1995-2015, showed the depth of her back catalog. The double album also featured new tracks from Todd Terry, the sublime “Elevator Going Up” with Louie Vega and her first collaboration with Grammy winner DJ Black Coffee, “Deep in the Bottom of Africa.” The official music video has received over 30 million views as of this writing and has become an anthem for an era in house music.
2023 also saw her return to the theatre for the first time in over two decades. Her show “SISMO: 10 Stories High and Low”, a mix of original short films and live performances of new and classic music, debuted in Johannesburg on August 27th at Soweto Theatre and is preparing for an international run. From Brooklyn to Brixton, from the southside of Chicago to the southside of Soweto, Monique Bingham’s name ranks among the most respected in electronic music and beyond.
