she may be from a small island but her big voice made her stand out on stage
and easily command everyone's attention widely hyped as the female shabba ranks
she blazed the charts and made significant cameos in the golden era of hip-hop and reggae crossovers
in the us throughout the 90s then she suddenly disappeared from the spotlight
let's find out whatever happened to jamaican reggae dance hall artist patra dorothy smith
better known as patra was born in kingston jamaica and raised in the parish of westmoreland
she describes herself as a country girl growing up with four brothers and being raised by her
mother after her father passed away when she was just three years old she first knew she wanted to
be a recording artist at the age of eight and was able to hone her skill singing in the church choir
her early influences were tina turner and fellow jamaican icon model singer-songwriter actress
grace jones her early supporters encouraged her to return to kingston where opportunities were more
abundant she would begin her career as a dancehall dj in the late 80s in her teens under the stage
name lady patra a name given to her from a cousin who likened her to the egyptian queen cleopatra
she ended up entering and winning some contests that got her the opportunity
to get into a professional studio to lay down some tracks then came the ultimate opportunity
to participate in sting jamaica's longest running annual stage show after battling it out with all
the other female artists on stage sony took notice and she was often running after signing her first
deal with epic records patra as she was now going by after her label told her to drop the lady
first got noticed as a featured singer on jamaican dancehall artist shabba rank's song family affair
the song hit number 84 on the billboard hot 100 which doesn't sound like anything to
write home about but that small victory would give her a taste of not only personal success
but international success as well she released her debut album titled queen of the pack in 1993
and it shot to the number one position on the reggae albums chart the album title was born
from her desire to claim her spot in a male dominated industry and paved the way for other
women the album spawned three singles that all found positions on various charts however it
was the single called worker man that would be the biggest hit of them all and of her career
it reached the number 53 position on the hot 100 the top 20 on the r and b chart and number one
on the dance chart even though patra is mainly labeled a reggae or dancehall artist her sound is
actually quite unique and uncategorizable she has the ability to mix many genres such as reggae r
b and rap together effortlessly she's also become famous off of her look too
box braids booty shorts and her signature dance move called the butterfly made everyone sit up
and take notice her second album titled scent of attraction followed two years later the album
included the title track featuring american r and b singer aaron hall whom she allegedly also dated
she also paid homage to one of her childhood influences grace jones on the album courtesy of
a remake of her classic 1981 hit pull up to the bumper during this time petra was living in new
york city and forming fast friendships with some of the biggest stars in urban music besides low
riding with rappers tupac and yo-yo in her music video for the track romantic call off of her debut
petra also cameoed in the notorious big's video for his hit single one more chance
after the release of her sophomore album patra essentially disappeared from the
scene for many years before popping up with two below the radar albums the great escape
and where i've been released in 2003 and 2005 respectively in april 2005
patra was arrested in montego bay and slapped with fraud related charges
according to reports the arrest was in connection with complaints by persons in entertainment
circles who accused her of taking money from them for overseas work permits and clearances
which she did not deliver she was charged but later received bail then patra took many
years off once again from the music industry she says for her own sanity at the time she was also
dealing with management issues she felt certain choices needed to be made for her own happiness
and allow her to be in control of her career she spent that time relaxing working out
cooking writing her autobiography and finishing her education in 2012 patra signed a new record
deal and began work on her fifth studio album a couple of singles were released over as many years
then finally the album titled patra the continuation was released in february 2014.
the previous year in the summer of 2013 bet reached out to patra to be part of their bet award
reggae dance hall celebration dubbed the best performance of the night
artists dawn penn shakodemas and pliers beanie man and elephant man made the trip from jamaica to los
angeles to bring the house down patra however was not in attendance in a july 2013 interview
with on stage tv she explained why so what really happened you were called right so what happened
why didn't you go well i was called but i was called by the wrong messenger and for me i want
to move forward i don't think i want to go backwards because a lot of things and people
that have access to me in certain way ways you know it take me years to get rid of them
bet is a very you know we call it now straight up network i've been working with them for years up
in years they are not the type of people who go out there and gossip and gossip
it is the people who think as if they have access to me and they could use it to their
advantage you know by putting it on stuff that their management it's a whole bunch of things
i don't want to discuss at this time but um i think i did the right thing because if i'm
doing something especially to represent regular music abroad or anywhere it have to done right
in the spring of 2014 patra along with her husband opened a restaurant called chateau 7
in saint andrew jamaica the queen of the pack went back to her roots again in 2016 when she dropped
an 8-track ep appropriately titled westmoreland girl petra surprised all her fans via facebook in
april 2019 where she debuted her new look a short copper blonde do it's a major change from her
signature super long braids she'd been sporting for more than 25 years in a 2019 interview with
jamaican newspaper the gleaner petra mentioned that the editing stage for her upcoming cooking
show was underway the show is expected to air on both local and international television she has a
cookbook in the works as well as far as music is concerned petra reiterated in the same interview
that she will continue her musical journey but timing is everything when i thought i was ready
a year or two ago musically i wasn't because i was doing this culinary thing which turned out to be
an art and expansion of my brand the only way to claim back yourself sometimes is to take a break
i love my fans all over the world and now i have a story to tell i'm coming as an entrepreneur
i'm doing my cookbook and now i understand the business aspect of music i didn't know
it was possible so that even adds to me being the queen of the pack because not everyone can do that
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