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 was 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.
Monica and the Moochers' first studio album, 'Too Darn Hot', was released by August 1990 on rooArt Jazz/PolyGram. Michael Foster of The Canberra Times declared her voice "always amazes me... through the years, with the volume and range of sound generated from such a small, fine frame" while she "has a very strong and very accomplished and versatile backing group." For the album, the Moochers were Dickenson, Gough, McGann, Mears, Spence, now including Mike Bukovsky on trumpet and Dave Ellis on bass guitar.
In November 1991 their second studio album, 'Cotton on the Breeze', included tracks co-written by Trápaga, with her then-husband, Gough. The Canberra Times' Brad Turner caught a performance which provided "some powerful and tightly-played jazz, swing and Latin standards, and of course a selection from 'Cotton on the Breeze', most of which Monica wrote." At the ARIA Music Awards of 1992 the group were nominated for Best Adult Contemporary Album. The group performed at Sydney's inaugural International Jazz Festival in January 1992. In 2016, Monica was named as the head juror on the Australian jury for the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest.
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