Born in São Paulo in 1971, MÔNICA SALMASO has surfaced as one of the best young voices among the new talents of Brazil. She started her musical career singing in a comedy directed by the award-winning Gabriel Villela. Besides her music studies in São Paulo, Salmaso has recorded and performed with important Brazilian artists such as Edu Lobo, Eduardo Gudin, José Miguel Wisnik, Marlui Miranda, Guinga, Nelson Ayres, and the Jazz Symphonic Orchestra of São Paulo. She was one of the soloists on the album Cançoes de Ninar by Paulo Tatit and Sandra Peres. The CD won Brazil's Prêmio Sharp - 95 as Best Recording for Children. In 1995 she recorded Afro Sambas, a voice and guitar album, arranged and produced by Brazilian guitarist Paulo Bellinati. The CD, which premiered the complete Afro-Sambas by Baden Powell and Vinícius de Moraes, including the famous Berimbau and Consolação, was released in the U.S. and Europe by GSP Records. In 1997, Salmaso was nominated for Prêmio Sharp - 97 as Best New Singer of Brazilian Popular Music with the CD Afro-Sambas.

In 1998 she recorded her first solo CD, Trampolim - for Pau Brasil Music (in Brazil) and Bluejackel Records (in USA). The CD features some of the most creative musicians in Brazilian contemporary music, such as Nana Vasconcelos, Teco Cardoso, Paulo Bellinati, among others. In May of 1999, Mônica Salmaso won the Visa-Mastercard-Eldorado Prize for best singer in Brazil, chosen out of 1,200 contestants all over the country. The prize has earned attention for Salmaso's talent and career.

During August/September 1999 she recorded, for Eldorado Records, her third album, Voadeira. The album has been judged by the press as one of the best releases of 1999 in Brazilian Popular Music. Voadeira features Marcos Suzano, Benjamim Taubkin, Naylor "Proveta", Toninho Ferragutti, and Paulo Bellinati, among others. Also in 1999 Salmaso was honored as the "best singer" in Brazil by APCA (Associação Paulista dos Críticos de Arte), an important recognition resulting from a poll of the most important Brazilian press. Since 1998, Salmaso also sings with the Orquestra Popular de Câmara - a 12-piece band - that blends the Brazilian musical heritage along with the personal contribution of each of the renowned soloists in the group.

In 2004, she released her fourth CD, Iaiá, on the label Biscoito Fino (in Brazil), released in USA and Europe by Harmonia Mundi.