Biography
read full storyPatra (born Dorothy Smith, 22 November 1972, Kingston, Jamaica) is a dancehall singer. In her beginnings as a female dancehall deejay in the late 1980s, she used the stage name Lady Patra. She first made an impression on the US charts as a featured singer on the Shabba Ranks song, "Family Affair", which hit #84 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1994.
Her first solo recording, "Worker Man", peaked at #53 later that year on the Hot 100, reached the Top 20 on the R&B chart and hit #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. Her 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 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.
Patra is currently finishing her new album in New York City, under new management with A&R executive/producer Rich Nice.