Childhood and early career

The oldest of four siblings, Destra was raised in the community of Desperlie Crescent, Laventille in eastern Port of Spain, Trinidad and attended the St. James Secondary School where she discovered her passion for singing and music. She not only won her school's Calypso Monarch title for five consecutive years, she composed every one of her songs.

At the age of 18 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.

Music and recording career

In 1999 Roy Cape took notice of her single album titled - “Ah Have A Man Already” with the group Third Base 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 "Wha Yuh Want", "Negative Vibes" and "Bonnie & Clyde".

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 Trinidad and Tobago Carnival that year and is widely known throughout the Caribbean.

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 betweeen 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 rythms.

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."[citation needed]

Career Highlights

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

She is yet to win either the Road March or Soca Monarch title in her Trinidad. Despite this, she has become success 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."[citation needed]

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

Albums and Notable Singles
Destra's released her first CD in 2004, entitled Red White & Black. Her second CD, Laventille was released in 2005. Both releases were commercial flops on the Caribbean market.

Destra is well known for hits such as "Come Beta" (featuring Shurwayne Winchester), "Bonnie & Clyde", released for the 2004 Triniad and Tobago Carnival season, and 2005 singles "Fly" and "We Say So". She also 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 also released a song called "Jumpin'" later that year.

For 2007, Destra has released the following singles thus far; "Las Lap" featuring Naya George, "Soca or Die", "Sign" and the 'made-for-pan' production, "We Luv Carnival". Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.