Mon Laferte

She has a kittenish, punk-rock aura (think a tattooed version of the 1950s pin-up girl Betty Page), an infinitely flexible voice that recalls Björk at her most ferocious and tender, and an idiosyncratic musical sense that frequently harks back to the ’50s yet somehow feels edgy and contemporary. Born Norma Monserrat Bustamante Laferte in 1983 in Viña del Mar (near Valparaíso), Chile, Laferte showed her musical aptitude early: She won her first guitar in a singing competition at age 10 and began writing songs soon after. She was accepted into a music school at 13, but she abandoned her studies just a year and a half later, opting instead to play Valparaíso’s bar scene and teach herself. That independent streak only got stronger: In a bucking of ’90s trends, her inspirations included one-of-a-kind divas like Violeta Parra, Chavela Vargas, and Edith Piaf (and later Amy Winehouse). She released her first album in 2003 as Monserrat Bustamante and toured relentlessly before moving to Mexico City in 2007. Thyroid cancer slowed her down in 2009, but after her recovery, she returned with a new name and a powerful, cohesive sound, mixing pop, rock, blues, and Latin folkloric music. With nary a glance toward chart-dominating urbano, her star continued to rise, bolstered by high-profile collaborations with artists including Juanes and Jorge Drexler.