Patra (singer)

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Patra is the stage name taken by Dorothy Smith, a reggae singer born on January 22, 1972, in Kingston, Jamaica. 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 Hot 100 in 1994.

Her first solo recording, "Worker Man", peaked at #53 later that year on Billboard's Hot 100, reached the R&B Top 20 and hit #1 on the US Dance chart. Her second single, "Romantic Call" (#55 US, #21 US Dance), was a collaboration with emcee Yo-Yo. Her debut album Queen of The Pack (#1 on the Reggae albums chart) also featured the huge hit single, "Think (About It)" (#21 US Rap, #89 US R&B). Her second album, Scent of Attraction, sold slightly less but it hit #2 on the Reggae albums chart and was still a success. The biggest hit was a cover of Grace Jones's "Pull Up to the Bumper" (#60 US) and the sensual title track, featuring R&B musician Aaron Hall. (#82 US) She 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 lead vocals on the 1995 Panther Movie Soundtrack on the song "Freedom (Theme from Panther)," a collaboration between the majority of the American music industry's top leading urban female vocalists including TLC, Aaliyah, Mary J. Blige, SWV and Queen Latifah.

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 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.

Contents

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

  • Queen of the Pack (1993)
  • Scent of Attraction (1995)
  • The Great Escape (2003)
  • Where I've Been (2005)

[edit] Singles

Year Title Chart Positions Album
US
Hot 100		 US
R&B		 US
Rap		 US
Dance
1993 "Think (About It)" – 89 21 – Queen of the Pack
1994 "Worker Man" 53 20 5 1 Queen of the Pack
1994 "Romantic Call" 55 35 9 21 Queen of the Pack
1995 "Pull Up to the Bumper" 60 21 – 15 Scent of Attraction
1996 "Sent of Attraction" 82 31 – – Scent of Attraction

[edit] See also

Languages