Monica Trapaga

Monica Trapaga
Trápaga, Sydney in July 2013
Background information
Birth name	Monica Maria Trápaga
Born	1965 (age 51–52) Wahroonga, New South Wales, Australia
Genres	Jazz, children's music
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, TV presenter, actress
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1985–present
Labels	rooArt/PolyGram
Associated acts	Pardon Me Boys, Monica and the Moochers, Monica Trapaga and the Bachelor Pad
Website	monica.com.au

Monica Maria Trápaga (born 1965) is an Australian entertainment presenter, jazz singer and actress. She was a presenter on the Australian children's series, Play School, from 1990 to 1998; and had provided the vocals to the theme of Bananas in Pyjamas from 1992. She is the youngest sister of Ignatius Jones, an events director, journalist, actor and shock rocker. Trápaga appeared on Better Homes and Gardens from 1997 to 2003, in decoration-related segments. While on Play School, she started recording children's music albums as well as jazz ones. She was a member of various groups: Pardon Me Boys, Monica and the Moochers, and Monica Trapaga and the Bachelor Pad. Since the early 2000s, she has owned stores in Summer Hill and in Newtown.

Monica Maria Trápaga was born in 1965 and grew up in Wahroonga, New South Wales as the youngest child of a Basque-Chinese father, Nestor Juan Trápaga, and a Catalan-American mother, Margot (born 1935, née Esteban). Her older siblings were all born in Manila, Philippines: Juan Ignacio (later known as Ignatius Jones), Luis Miguel and Rocio Maria Trápaga – the family had relocated to Sydney by March 1963. In November 1991 she described her "fairly crazy Latin family. I grew up surrounded by music – everything from jazz and Latin to opera and classical. My father had a interest in jazz, particularly Afro-Cuban jazz."

In 1985, Trápaga, on lead vocals, was a member of a swing jazz-cabaret band, Pardon Me Boys, with William O'Riordan (aka Joylene Hairmouth) and her older brother, Jones: both had been members of shock rockers Jimmy and the Boys. In February 1988 they issued a self-titled album, which Lisa Wallace of The Canberra Times felt that "the harmonies on this disc would rival any Andrews Sisters' recording... Hot, tasty and jazzy." Trápaga left Pardon Me Boys as "I wanted to present myself as more of a musician than a cabaret performer" and they were a group she "outgrew because it wasn't my band."

In July 1988 she founded Monica and the Moochers in Sydney; another The Canberra Times reviewer described them as "a band that emulates the music of the late 1940s and 1950s" ahead of a gig in Canberra, which was to be followed by a tour itinerary including Perth. By November 1989 the line-up were Trápaga on lead vocals, Andrew Dickenson on drums, Julian Gough on tenor saxophone, Bernie McGann on alto saxophone, Adrian Mears on trombone, Alister Spence on piano and Jonathon Zwartz on bass guitar.