Patra

The diva known throughout the world as Patra was born Dorothy Smith, the second of five children and the only daughter of Jamaican parents. Born in Kingston and raised in Westmoreland parish, Patra and her brothers were raised by their mother after their father died when Patra was only three years old. Like many North American divas, some of Patra's first public singing engagements were as part of her church's choir, though Patra's musical roots are firmly planted in Jamaican soil, some of her biggest inspirations have come from US divas such as Patti Labelle, Tina Turner and Sade. While still a teenager, Patra added DJ’ing to her list of talents and quickly realized that she was destined for a career in music.

Patra's first solo recording, "Worker Man", peaked at #53 later on the Hot 100, reached the Top 20 on the R&B chart and #1 on the U.S. Dance chart. Her second single, "Romantic Call" (#55 U.S., #21 U.S. Dance), was a collaboration with emcee Yo-Yo. Her debut album Queen of The Pack (#1 on the Reggae albums chart) also featured the hit single, "Think (About It)" (#21 U.S. Rap, #89 U.S. R&B). Her second album, Scent of Attraction, sold slightly less but still reached #2 on the Reggae albums chart. The biggest hit was her cover of Grace Jones's "Pull Up to the Bumper" (#60 U.S.) and the title track, featuring R&B musician Aaron Hall (#82 U.S.)

Patra took a lengthy hiatus from the music industry in 1996, but resurfaced nearly ten years later with her third album, The Great Escape.

Patra also performed on the 1995 Panther movie soundtrack with the song "Freedom (Theme from Panther)," a collaboration between the American music industry's leading urban female vocalists. She also performed on C+C Music Factory's remix of its hit single "Take a Toke" that same year.

More recently Patra featured on the Two Culture Clash project in 2004, where she was featured on the album’s lead single, "How Do You Love," featuring fellow reggae artist, Danny English. After her success in the 1990s, Patra released The Great Escape on Charly Records in 2003, and Where I've Been in 2005 under Wall Street Entertainment.

Patra is scehuled to release her 5th album titled "Changes" in 2010 featuring hits such as "My Man" featuring Shema Mcgregor