Over the past few years, New Jersey-born, Los Angeles-based sisters Destinee and Paris Monroe have entertained millions of people all over the world by opening for diverse artists such as Lady GaGa, Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Stevie Nicks,The Backstreet Boys, Lionel Richie, and scoring a slot as the official opening act on the Cheetah Girls’ “One World” U.S. tour. They’ve also sung their soaring versi...on of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at a variety of major sporting events. They’ve participated in such events as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Grammy Awards, the Kids’ Choice Awards, the Teen Choice Awards, the American Music Awards, and the MTV Movie Awards. They’ve also performed on NBC’s The Today Show, and have had their songs featured on So You Think You Can Dance, a song featured on the AT&T Team USA Olympic Soundtrack, The Bratz Movie Soundtrack, and most recently the Despicable Me Soundtrack with super producer /artist Pharrell Williams. Sounds like the career of a couple of seasoned performers, right?
Destinee and Paris are indeed seasoned performers, who just happen to be teenagers. They may be young, but the songs the two have delivered on their upcoming U.S. debut album, Heart of Mine, will appeal to anyone with an ear for irresistible, uplifting pop songs about life, love, and friendship. “We want to appeal to everyone.” Paris says. “We want to be defined by our music, not by our age.”
Displaying a maturity beyond the girls’ years, Heart of Mine is a showcase for their considerable songwriting and vocal talent. Aside from a sparkling dancefloor update of Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way” and the album’s first single, “Pretend,” (written by Polow Da Don and Esther Dean), Destinee and Paris co-wrote every song on the album with noted hitmaker RedOne, and his songwriting team. “Red is amazing to work with,” Destinee says. “Some producers tell you how to sing, but he trusted our talent and let us sing the way we felt, which helped us make an album that truly represents who we are as artists.”
Heart of Mine is the realization of a dream the sisters have had since they were toddlers growing up in verdant Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey. The girls would travel to New York City everyday for years doing Theatre, TV Commercials, Voiceovers, Print Work, and Modeling “We’ve always loved entertaining people,” Paris says.
Inspired by Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Beyoncé, the girls entered a singing competition at a local mall in 2001. The seed was planted and the girls begged their parents for vocal lessons. While training in voice and dance, the girls performed everywhere they could. In 2005 Destinee & Paris attended a Backstreet Boys concert and met the group at their sound-check. “Everyone got to ask the guys questions and our question was, ‘Can we sing for you?’ Paris
says. “They handed us their mics and we sang ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ and they were literally bowing down to us, it was hilarious.”
Meanwhile, Destinee learned to play the guitar while Paris continued studying the piano, the girls began writing and recording their own songs. The girls’ father- a guitarist, producer, and sound engineer- built a recording studio in the family’shome for his daughters to record a professional-sounding demo. That ten-song collection found its way into the hands of executives at Interscope Records. In January 2007, the family flew out to Los Angeles for a meeting with friend Vincent Herbert, (Executive producer for Lady Gaga, JoJo) Jolene Cherry, Doug Morris and Jimmy Iovine, “basically, we never left,” Paris says. Destinee and Paris, along with a childhood friend, signed to Interscope in 2007 as The Clique Girlz. They recorded an album, Incredible, which was released in Japan in 2008. Not long after, with creative differences the band dissolved. They decided to go back to their roots as a sister power pop duo.
In July 2009, the girls received word that “red”-hot producer RedOne was interested in working with them. They traveled to Amsterdam to record with him— a session that yielded the melody-minded album gems “Sweet Sarah,” “It’s Over,” and “Heart of Mine.” Next, it was off to Sweden to record the Lindsey Buckingham-penned classic “Go Your Own Way,” which the girls fell in love with for its warm acoustic guitars, shimmering harmonies, and intense lyrics. “We’ve always loved Fleetwood Mac, and when we heard the song, we felt instantly connected to its story,” Destinee says. The rest of the album was recorded in Los Angeles, including “Pretend,” which was produced by Polow Da Don (Fergie, Usher, and Christina Aguilera).
“’Pretend’ is about a girl who’s seeing this guy, and he doesn’t know that she’s seen him flirting with other girls,” Paris explains. “She doesn’t want to lose him, so she pretends she doesn’t know what’s going on.” Adds Destinee: “We wanted to record it because we thought the song was really relatable. Not only is a great song for girls our age, but it’s really heartfelt. We loved that about it.”
“Some of the songs on our album are about our own experiences, sometimes dramatized, we also like putting ourselves in other people’s shoes.” Paris says. The sum effect is an appealing portrait of these two talented sisters who have everything ahead of them, including the release of Heart of Mine and an upcoming tour. “We just want to make people happy with our music” Paris says. “This is what we love to do, and if we can make a career out our passion, that’s something really special.”
Destinee and Paris are indeed seasoned performers, who just happen to be teenagers. They may be young, but the songs the two have delivered on their upcoming U.S. debut album, Heart of Mine, will appeal to anyone with an ear for irresistible, uplifting pop songs about life, love, and friendship. “We want to appeal to everyone.” Paris says. “We want to be defined by our music, not by our age.”
Displaying a maturity beyond the girls’ years, Heart of Mine is a showcase for their considerable songwriting and vocal talent. Aside from a sparkling dancefloor update of Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way” and the album’s first single, “Pretend,” (written by Polow Da Don and Esther Dean), Destinee and Paris co-wrote every song on the album with noted hitmaker RedOne, and his songwriting team. “Red is amazing to work with,” Destinee says. “Some producers tell you how to sing, but he trusted our talent and let us sing the way we felt, which helped us make an album that truly represents who we are as artists.”
Heart of Mine is the realization of a dream the sisters have had since they were toddlers growing up in verdant Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey. The girls would travel to New York City everyday for years doing Theatre, TV Commercials, Voiceovers, Print Work, and Modeling “We’ve always loved entertaining people,” Paris says.
Inspired by Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Beyoncé, the girls entered a singing competition at a local mall in 2001. The seed was planted and the girls begged their parents for vocal lessons. While training in voice and dance, the girls performed everywhere they could. In 2005 Destinee & Paris attended a Backstreet Boys concert and met the group at their sound-check. “Everyone got to ask the guys questions and our question was, ‘Can we sing for you?’ Paris
says. “They handed us their mics and we sang ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ and they were literally bowing down to us, it was hilarious.”
Meanwhile, Destinee learned to play the guitar while Paris continued studying the piano, the girls began writing and recording their own songs. The girls’ father- a guitarist, producer, and sound engineer- built a recording studio in the family’shome for his daughters to record a professional-sounding demo. That ten-song collection found its way into the hands of executives at Interscope Records. In January 2007, the family flew out to Los Angeles for a meeting with friend Vincent Herbert, (Executive producer for Lady Gaga, JoJo) Jolene Cherry, Doug Morris and Jimmy Iovine, “basically, we never left,” Paris says. Destinee and Paris, along with a childhood friend, signed to Interscope in 2007 as The Clique Girlz. They recorded an album, Incredible, which was released in Japan in 2008. Not long after, with creative differences the band dissolved. They decided to go back to their roots as a sister power pop duo.
In July 2009, the girls received word that “red”-hot producer RedOne was interested in working with them. They traveled to Amsterdam to record with him— a session that yielded the melody-minded album gems “Sweet Sarah,” “It’s Over,” and “Heart of Mine.” Next, it was off to Sweden to record the Lindsey Buckingham-penned classic “Go Your Own Way,” which the girls fell in love with for its warm acoustic guitars, shimmering harmonies, and intense lyrics. “We’ve always loved Fleetwood Mac, and when we heard the song, we felt instantly connected to its story,” Destinee says. The rest of the album was recorded in Los Angeles, including “Pretend,” which was produced by Polow Da Don (Fergie, Usher, and Christina Aguilera).
“’Pretend’ is about a girl who’s seeing this guy, and he doesn’t know that she’s seen him flirting with other girls,” Paris explains. “She doesn’t want to lose him, so she pretends she doesn’t know what’s going on.” Adds Destinee: “We wanted to record it because we thought the song was really relatable. Not only is a great song for girls our age, but it’s really heartfelt. We loved that about it.”
“Some of the songs on our album are about our own experiences, sometimes dramatized, we also like putting ourselves in other people’s shoes.” Paris says. The sum effect is an appealing portrait of these two talented sisters who have everything ahead of them, including the release of Heart of Mine and an upcoming tour. “We just want to make people happy with our music” Paris says. “This is what we love to do, and if we can make a career out our passion, that’s something really special.”
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Accomplishments
- Featured artists in episode "Mama Cub to Mama Cub" in E!’s The Dance Scene
- Contributed the song "I'm on a Roll" to the soundtrack of Despicable Me
- Backing vocalists for Season 10 of American Idol in 2011
- Backing vocalists on Scotty McCreery's first single "I Love You This Big"
- Released their first single, "True Love", in 2011
- Released a music video for "True Love" as their first music video in 2011
- Opening act in the U.S. & Europe for Britney Spears' Femme Fatale Tour in 2011
- Guest singers on Disney Channel’s So Random in 2012
- 12 music covers on YouTube
- 4 Episodes of Destinee & Paris TV
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Individual biographies from the Clique Girlz
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The girls were assumed to have left Interscope Records some time in late 2013. On December 31, 2013 they announced via Instagram that the group was splitting up and starting solo careers.
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Solo Work
She has mentioned on Instagram that her musician name will be Destinee. She has released a rough cut of her original song Sonik (listen to Sonik here). A few days after releasing it she removed it from all her accounts.
In the summer of 2022, Destinee joined The Billy Walton Band. In February 2023, the band released a song I Can't Tell featuring Destinee as the lead vocalist (listen to I Can't Tell here). Destinee is currently touring with the band around the east coast and parts of Europe (watch her perform here). Touring information can be found below...
2015/2016: She has currently been releasing short previews of her music on her Snapchat. Her only noted original song is Run The Track (assumed title by fans). She has also released a clip of her version of Lady Gaga's Nothing On (But The Radio) on her Snapchat. This brought about an uproar among Gaga's fans. Paris then made a statement on her Instagram to Gaga's fans saying "Little Monsters: since I keep getting a million questions, I wanna clarify that I did cut Nothin On But The Radio before I knew Gaga's version had already leaked online. As a songwriter myself, I wouldn't normally cut a demo but like many of you I fell in love with the song. I obviously wouldn't release a record that has already been out there online, I'm working on my own records for this year. I have known Gagz since I was 11 on Interscope (got signed the same week), have worked with maaany of the same people and I was one of the very first monsters that ever existed.. So we're all good in the hood. That's all I'll say! Thank you darlings, plz update that forum." The song has since been released by Addison Rae in 2023.
In February 2022, Paris had a song Can't Beat Love featured in the end credits of the movie "Book of Love." It was written by RedOne and Pat Devine. The song was
not included/released in the movie's official soundtrack (listen to Can't Beat Love here). There is currently no new updates for Paris.
In February 2022, Paris had a song Can't Beat Love featured in the end credits of the movie "Book of Love." It was written by RedOne and Pat Devine. The song was
not included/released in the movie's official soundtrack (listen to Can't Beat Love here). There is currently no new updates for Paris.
Last updated on: July 8, 2024
