Artist Detailed Info: Monice

Monice (born Monika Ivkic; 6 June 1989, in Gradačac, Bosnia) is an Austrian pop singer. She is best known for achieving fourth place in the fifth season of German casting show Deutschland sucht den Superstar (DSDS). Monice released her first album I'm Gonna Make It in 2009. After the end of Deutschland sucht den Superstar, she had a specially published book released, that was sold in Germany and Austria.

Monice was born as Monika Ivkic in Gradačac, Bosnia, and spent her early childhood in Bosnia before moving to Vienna, Austria, as a young child with her parents. She has German and Bosnian ancestry. At the age of 17, she dropped out of school and decided to pursue a career as a singer. Monice currently lives in Vienna with her parents and three brothers.

At age 15, Monice participated in the German version of Popstars, a casting show broadcast by the German TV station ProSieben. After getting disqualified because she did not meet the minimum age requirement, she was invited to resubmit her application for the following season, where she progressed through the auditions but failed to make it to the finals. A year later, she took part in the fifth season of Starmania, a casting show broadcast by the Austrian TV station ORF. Her popularity soared when, in the following year, she qualified for the fifth season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar (DSDS), which is broadcast by RTL, and finished in fourth place.

Following Deutschland sucht den Superstar, Monice did not sign a contract with a record label, citing a desire to express herself musically without being bound by the commercial constraints of her home market. Instead, she recorded a few songs and released them on her official YouTube channel. Later in 2008 she came out with the album "I'm Gonna Make It", available for sale only through the Internet. Some of the songs were performed on Bosnian and Austrian TV but none of them garnered a following. The songs "I'm Gonna Make It" and "Only the Good Die Young" were also offered as remixes.

The album I'm Gonna Make It was not the hoped-for success. Because of low sales Monice first took a break and was still only looking at small events. End of 2008, it has the song "Together We'll Be" and was brought out in some of Austria's to watch TV shows. Monice began changing her image at the end of 2008, attempting a shift from ballad singer to pop star, and looking to draw attention by dyeing her hair black and losing some weight.

On February 10, 2010, RTÉ announced that Monice would participate in the Irish national finals for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with a song called "Fashion Queen", where she later finished in third place. The song was released a few weeks later, and reached numer 86 in the Irish charts. With "Fashion Queen" she wanted to take off again in Germany and Austria, as well as internationally.

"Fashion Queen" received mild controversy on several chat forums and radio stations, as it was claimed to have sounded very similar to Christina Aguilera's song, "Candyman". The song "Fashion Queen" is nevertheless the most successful single of Monice. The accompanying video is also in rotation. Monice is currently working on her first official album. The album is expected in summer 2010, and will also include older songs.

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