As a high school student in Baltimore, she was on a fast track to a medical career, taking advanced courses and planning for pre-med studies in college. That changed when she stepped into Odell's, a local nightclub, where DJ Wayne Davis was on the turntables.
"I couldn't get enough of it," she told
True House Stories. "I had to be there every weekend and I had to dance."
Instead of a career in medicine, Naté became a dance singer.
Her real name is Ultra Naté Wyche. Her unique name was carefully chosen by her mother, who wanted her to be "great, successful and most of all different from the average person."
Inspired by a Jean Naté commercial, she added "Ultra" to give it a special ring. "Ultra means 'far beyond the norm,'" her mother explained, "and I am blessed to see it, because 'Te' which has been her nickname since she was a baby, only personifies the name."
Naté is pronounced "Na-Tay."
Ultra Naté has left an indelible mark on dance music with a string of influential tracks spanning decades. Her 1989 debut "
It's Over Now" became an underground club anthem, with legendary DJ Tony Humphries playing it multiple times a night at the iconic Zanzibar club in Newark, New Jersey. But it was 1997's "
Free" that catapulted her to international stardom. The empowering anthem topped charts worldwide and became a classic.
Naté is an icon in the LGBTQ+ community. Her anthemic hit "Free" has been embraced as a celebration of identity and self-expression.
Ultra's connection to the community goes beyond her music; she's been a fixture in gay clubs and pride events for decades. In 2010, she demonstrated her commitment by performing five shows in just four hours during New York Pride, tirelessly moving from the Pier Party to Pacha. Her enduring appeal was evident in 2023 when she performed "Free" at a Liverpool event, with thousands of young people - many not even born when the song was released - singing every word.
Her collaboration with fellow Baltimore natives The Basement Boys led to her breakthrough hit "It's Over Now." Even as her fame grew, Naté remained committed to her hometown's music scene. She's been instrumental in putting Baltimore on the map for dance music, working closely with local producers and supporting the local club scene. Her long-running after hours party, Deep Sugar, held at The Paradox in Baltimore, has become a staple of the city's nightlife, showcasing both local and international DJ talent.
Ultra Naté's fashion sense has been as distinctive as her music throughout her career. In Baltimore, where she grew up, young women often dressed alike in what Ultra playfully calls the "doo-doo brown style." But Ultra stood out, going out of her way to look different. "I'm an identity nut and I hate it if anyone looks like me," she told Blues & Soul magazine in 1993.
Her bold style choices were evident from her early performances. At one of her first shows at Baltimore's Paradox club, she wore a tiny dress made on the fly by a friend, with her hair styled in the "hard hair thing" popular at the time. This flair for the dramatic continued throughout her career, with one memorable early performance seeing her descend from the ceiling in a bird cage at New York's Limelight club.
Ultra has made a name for herself as a DJ. House music legend "Little" Louie Vega praises her as "a leader in our music," while DJ Spen states, "There is literally no one on the planet that can do what she does as effectively as she does it." This multi-faceted talent has led some, like Kevin Hedge, to dub her "the Oprah of the underground dance community."
Ultra Naté's journey to stardom wasn't without its challenges. In her early days of recording, she faced significant self-doubt and criticism. As she told True House Stories, "My attitude got so funky that I was really hard to work with and I was afraid to open my mouth because I figured whatever I'd sing would come out wrong. I was really intimidated by the negativity."
It was the support of club-goers that helped her regain her confidence. "What really helped me were the people who went to clubs and may not have been in the music industry, but came up to me and told me I had a great voice, they loved my record and they could really relate to it," she explained.
