Destra Garcia
Destra Garcia (born July 8, 1975 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
The eldest of four siblings, Destra Garcia was raised in the community of Desperlie Crescent, Laventille in eastern Port of Spain, and attended Woodbrook government secondary school and St James Secondary School where she discovered her passion for singing and music. She not only won the 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 and singer.
She joined a quartet called PSYKE which disbanded after only one year. Following the demise of the group, Destra Garcia attended the School of Business and Management earning a diploma in Sales Management.
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 Kernel Roberts (until 2005 inclusive), churning out hits such as “Wha Yuh Want”, “Negative Vibes” and “Bonnie & Clyde”.
In 2003 Destra Garcia 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 Garcia won the Road March title in 2003 at the Labour Day Carnival in Brooklyn[citation needed], and also placed second in the Trinidad and Tobago Soca Monarch competition in that same year.
She is 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 and 2009. 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.
Also in 2006, the Digicel mobile telecommunications group named Destra Garcia as its spokesperson in a two-year endorsement deal.
