ILOSM fam’ we were over here reminiscing about one of the best female groups of the 90’s, Brownstone, and a few things came to mind. For one, they know they had to be a bad group, if the one and only music icon, Michael Jackson, signed ’em to his MJJ Music label! Two, the “Heard It Through The Grapevyne” trio were some SANGIN’ somebodies, who sang like they were at a church choir competition every time they stepped on stage. And three…where in the hell did Monica “Mimi” Doby -one of the original members- disappear to?
Throughout the years, Mimi’s two former members were very much in the public eye. Sadly, Charmayne “Maxee” Maxwell passed away on February 27, 2015 from a reportedly accidental fall at her home. Prior Maxee’s passing, she and Nicci Gilbert were still periodically performing as Brownstone. Nicci was also very visible on the reality TV circuit for a minute with R&B Divas. But after Monica left the group during the height of their 90’s success, we’ve hadn’t seen her since…until her brief reunion with Brownstone in 2016, where they appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! alongside rapper, Tory Lanez.
Back in the day, when Brownstone appeared on Video Soul, it was reported that Mimi had suddenly left the group due to an “illness,” or “bronchitis,” or some other alternative fact that I vaguely remember. But later on, it came out (in interviews) that she’d left because of beef with her Brownstone sisters.
WHAT MIMI IS DOING FOR A LIVING NOW…
We decided to do a lil’ digging into what Mimi’s been up to lately and were pleasantly surprised by her current career. According to several reports and Mimi’s Linkedin account, she’s been a school teacher for over two decades with the Los Angeles Unified School District. Yep, she chose a career far from the glitz and glam of the entertainment world, as you can see. There’s more…
Monica ‘Mimi’ Doby now goes by the name, Monica Doby-Davis. One look at her more recent photos, and it’s clear that Monica is just as beautiful as she ever was. She has a son who appears to be in his teens and she’s living a quiet regular life now. We aren’t sure what Mimi teaches, but hopefully she’s teaching young kids what REAL singing is because sadly, their generation is severely deprived of enough examples of that in mainstream media.
It’s uncertain if Mimi plans to make a comeback to music anytime soon, but on her social media pages, she did mention to someone that she was ‘getting back’ to singing. Only time will tell though.
Anywho, it’s a beautiful thing to see Monica dedicating herself to shaping young minds. Her life may be very different from the days of meeting her former boss, MJ, and selling a million+ records, but the process of instilling within her students, the tools they need for forward progression in life, is probably just as fulfilling for ‘Mimi.’
