Denyse Burnadette Kirline Plummer HBM (8 November 1953 – 27 August 2023)[1] was a Trinidadian calypsonian and gospel singer.

The child of a white father and a black mother, she initially faced significant prejudice in a genre traditionally seen as Afro-Caribbean, but was eventually recognised as a leading calypso performer.

[4] Plummer held several white-collar jobs until her mid-thirties, including working as a computer operator at Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company.

[3] She later decided to leave her day job to pursue music full time, and between 1977 and 1983 she recorded some of the pop songs she typically performed.

[2] In 1985, Phase II Pan Groove steelband arranger Len "Boogsie" Sharpe invited her to sing two calypso songs.

[2][5][6][7] Plummer was enlisted by Phase II Pan Groove steelband arranger Len "Boogsie" Sharpe in 1986 to sing his band's Panorama entry.

[2] In 1989, Plummer won Amateur Night at Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York, when she performed Whitney Houston's "Didn't We Almost Have It All".

"[3] Plummer's music often expresses patriotism to Trinidad and Tobago, describing its beauty and its people, though she does sometimes address problems in the country.

[6] In 2015, prior to Carnival, Plummer announced that she had become a born-again Christian, and would from then on be performing "gospelypso and groovy soca about God and His Kingdom.

[4] Len "Boogsie" Sharpe, Austin "Blue Boy" Lyons (later known as Superblue), Lord Kitchener, and Black Stalin were influential to Plummer.

Throughout her career, Plummer has sung several tribute songs to Lord Kitchener, who invited her to perform in his Calypso Revue tent for years and served as her mentor.

[2] Black Stalin taught Plummer how to perform calypso, including how to word her lyrics and where to take breaths for the most impactful delivery.