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Mon Laferte, real name Norma Monserrat Bustamante Laferte, is a talented singer, instrumentalist, mom, and cancer surivor. Born on May 2, 1983, in Viña del Mar, Chile, she won a guitar contest when she was 9, and began playing in bars as a teenager. In 2003 with the stage name Monserrat Bustamante, she entered the Chilean reality competition series Rojo Fama Contrafama. She released her first studio album, ‘La Chica de Rojo’ that same year, which received Gold and Platinum certifications.
In 2007 she moved to Mexico City and began working on her upcoming album, but soon contracted Salmonella, which took a toll on her health. “ I remember literally dragging myself from bed to the bathroom and lying there for hours on the floor to vomit. I remember losing a lot of weight and being very weak and still having to get up every Thursday and take the bus on a trip six hours to get to Veracruz, there was my job singing every weekend and I couldn’t lose it,” she share on social media.
The singer, who was a pillar for her working-class family, was dedicated to making her dreams come true, but was later diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2009. She had an operation to remove it, and she explained, “due to the operation, I completely lost the mobility of my right side, I couldn’t dress myself and my head fell to one side, I lost all sensitivity on my face and I couldn’t lift my arm for a year.”
However, just 3 months after her surgery, she got back on stage, with the new name, “Mon Laferte.”
“Even so, three months after the operation, even without having my voice healthy and against medical indications, without being able to move completely, and with a terrible depression, I got up and went to play at the bar, someone had to pay the rent and medicines,” she wrote.
The survivor released her next studio album ‘Desechable’ in 2011 and was invited to judge the second season of the Chilean version of The X Factor the following year. By 2017, the singer was winning awards for her music, winning an MTV Millennial Award for the “Latin Video of the Year” in 2016, the Best Alternative Song award at the 18th Latin GRAMMYs, in 2017, and ”Best North Latin Artist” at the 2017 MTV Europe Music Awards.
Her career has been unstoppable, but she has also used her platform to bring awareness to acts of violence in Chile. In 2019 she was even subpoenaed by Chilean prosecutors regarding her statements about police and armed forces. The charges were later dropped.
The powerhouse appreciates her private life, and her partner is Joel Orta. She announced the birth of her first child, a son named Joel, this year in February. Laferte proudly displayed her baby bump while performing throughout her pregnancy, including at the Latin Grammy awards in 2021, where she sang accompanied by Gloria Trevi. Laferte has been enjoying the time with her son, but fans are eager to see what’s next for her incredible musical career.