Drupatee Ramgoonai is a Trinidadian chutney and chutney-soca artiste from Penal. She had her biggest hit in 1988 when her (Roll Up the Tassa) Mr. Bissessar was a Road March contender.
Drupatee Ramgoonai was born in Penal, Trinidad. She started singing alongside her mother & in the temples at a young age then went on to learn Classical at the feet of her trainer Ustad James Ramsawak a veteran in the field. She also gained exposure on Mastana Bahar & the Indian Cultural Pageant winning the local song category in 1983 & 1984 respectively.
Her repertoire back then included local classical, bhajans, local songs & film songs. She also had some formal vocal training in Indian Classical music from classes under the well acclaimed Professor Adesh.
Drupatee recorded her first crossover tune in 1987 entitled Chutney Soca & gained moderate success in the calypso tents. The following year she had her mega hit Mr Bissessar (Roll up de Tassa) which brought her international acclaim and served as the nursery for this genre of music called CHUTNEY SOCA resulting in a commercial market being created for this type of music as well.
She was consistent for many years with hits such as Pepper, Hotter than a chulha, Careless Driver, Motilal, Tassawalley, Manzalina etc & even the Monster hit Real Unity with Machel Montano. Some of her more recent contributions include: Mohana bina Gowna, Doh beat yuh wife, Parosin Maco-ing, D wedding song, Chutney Soca Wine, Violin etc.
Drupatee has won Nafieta awards & various trophies plus other awards for her unmatched contribution to Chutney Soca Music. She is the regarded as the Chutney Soca Queen for the blending of these musical styles were the messages in some of her songs like Chutney Soca, Hotter than a chulha & Special Brew.
In recent years Drupatee has even started doing soca parang at Christmas time with songs such as Chutney Parang & Fruit cake.
She created history as being the first woman of East Indian Descent to sing Calypso/Soca & almost copped the Road March Title in T&T in 1988 coming second in the race. Drupatee is well known throughout the world for her hot & spicy Chutney Soca performances. She has performed throughout the Caribbean, North America, Europe & even India alongside many internationally renowned stars.
Up to this day Drupatee continues to release tasteful music and do various performances across the globe and is still a force to be reckoned with.