Destra Garcia

Destra Garcia Destra
Destra Garcia performing at the UWI Splash at St. Augustine Campus in 2009.
Background information
Birth name	Destra Garcia
Born	Laventille, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Origin	Desperlie Crescent, Laventille, Trinidad and Tobago
Genres	Soca, calypso
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter
Years active	1998–present
Labels	Bamboo Entertainment
Associated acts	Atlantik, Roy Cape All Stars
Website	mydestra.com

Destra Garcia (born 10 November in Laventille, Trinidad and Tobago) is a soca singer and songwriter based in Trinidad and Tobago. Destra is noted for her high energy performances, harmonious vocal skill and eccentric fashion style.

Biography

Childhood and early career

The eldest of four siblings, Destra was raised in the community of Desperlie Crescent, Laventille in eastern Port of Spain, and attended St. Crispin's Anglican Primary School and then St. James Secondary School. Destra was always involved in singing calypso in primary school but she developed her passion for singing and music during her secondary school days. She not only won her school's calypso Monarch title for five consecutive years, she composed every one of her songs. Her musical roots came from her grandfather, the late Frankie Garcia (Bourg Mulatresse, Santa Cruz), an island jazz musician. Her father, Lloyd Garcia, is an accomplished guitarist.

She joined a quartet called PSYKE which disbanded after only one year. Following the demise of the group, Destra attended the School of Business and Management earning a diploma in Sales Management.

In 2010, Destra gave birth to her first child, Xaiya, with her longtime boyfriend.

Music and recording career

In 1999, Roy Cape All-Stars took notice of her single titled "Ah Have a Man Already" with Third Bass and invited her to join the Roy Cape All-Stars band as one of the lead vocalists.

She pursued a solo career briefly, but eventually joined the band Atlantik in late 2002. She remains the frontline singer for Atlantik and has forged a successful songwriting partnership with Kernal Roberts (until 2005 inclusive), churning out hits such as "Bonnie & Clyde", "Up in the Air", "Whe Yuh Want" and "Negative Vibes".

In 2003, Destra released her first album Red, White, Black which included her hit duet "It's Carnival" with fellow soca artist Machel Montano. The song became the virtual anthem of the Trinidad and Tobago carnival that year and is widely known throughout the Caribbean.

Career highlights

Destra won the Road March title in 2003 at the Labour Day Carnival in Brooklyn and placed second in the Trinidad and Tobago Soca Monarch competition in that same year.

She has yet to win either the Carnival Road March or Soca Monarch title in Trinidad although she has come close in the Road March race, placing second in 2003, 2004 and 2009. Despite this, she has become successful in the local music industry, specializing in pop-sounding soca compositions as well as fusion music encompassing aspects of East Indian culture.

In 2006, Caribbean Beat magazine described Destra's music as "the kind of sound that a young person, living at the crossroads of cultures and technologies that is Trinidad and Tobago today, is likely to produce, and the breeziness of her music may well act as an antidote to the hard edge which often characterises life not only in Trinidad and Tobago, but in many other corners of the globe.

Also in 2006, the Digicel mobile telecommunications group named Destra as its spokesperson in a two-year endorsement deal.

Image

Destra is famous for her style. Due to her radical clothing choices consisting primarily of revealing clothing such as tight, short pants, and low-cut bra tops, she has captivated audiences during her performances. On stage, Destra is wild and explosive in her movements and vocals, sometimes seemingly performing in her own world due to her passion. Destra has expressed her music and fashion choices as a merger between American punk rock and Soca. This mix is evident in the instruments used in Destra's music, as she frequently utilizes rock guitar acoustics with underlying Soca rhythms.

Her 2006 look "soca fabulous" has been created by local designers such as Meiling and Peter Elias. From a new "glam" hairstyle, to her bold, risqué wardrobe, Destra's new look has been described as one which "is going to rock the town and will be a fashion force to reckon with." ^[1]

Albums and notable singles

Destra's released her first CD in 2003: Red, White, Black. Her second CD, Laventille pre-release which featured her "Bonnie and Clyde" hit song, was released in 2004.

Destra is well known for one of the most popular soca anthems "It's Carnival" (featuring Machel Montano) which was released in the 2003 Carnival season. Some of her later popular releases are "Come Beta" (featuring Shurwayne Winchester) and 2005 singles "Fly" and "We Say So". She paid tribute to her home town in 2005 with a track entitled "The Hammer Revisited", a duet with Calypso veteran David Rudder. In 2006, Destra contributed her vocals to the song "Aur Chale" in conjunction with the band Dil E Nadan and released popular songs such as "Max It Up" and "Independent Ladies." She released a song called "Jumpin'" later that year for her album Independent Lady which seemed to have signalled the start for women's shout for independence.

In 2007, Destra released the following singles: "Las Lap" featuring Naya George, "Soca or Die", "Sign", "Situation" with Multi Symptom, the 'made-for-pan' production, "We Luv Carnival", the most popular song of her 2007 releases, "I Dare You" (the song in which she began using the ever popular dance created by reggae superstar Tony Matterhorn, "Dutty Wine"), all of which now form part of her Soca Or Die album released in 2008. Hott (2009) was released for Barbados Soca.

Albums

Trivia

• The song "Bonnie and Clyde" was featured as the track for the Parrot Bay alcohol commercial.
• The song "It's Carnival" is based on the song "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper.

References

External links

• Destra's Official Website
• Destra's Official Twitter Page
• Destra's Official Myspace page
• Destra's Official Facebook Fanpage
• Destra's Official YouTube Channel
• Destra's Official Imeem Page
• Destra's official ReverbNation Page

Destra is of Spanish and African descent.