diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d3b4a38dd693a..94ff5cbe1225e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -380,6 +380,9 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/).
 - Fixed error reporting in DDP process reconciliation when processes are launched by an external agent ([#9389](https://github.com/PyTorchLightning/pytorch-lightning/pull/9389))
 
 
+- Fixed missing deepspeed distributed call ([#9540](https://github.com/PyTorchLightning/pytorch-lightning/pull/9540))
+
+
 ## [1.4.5] - 2021-08-31
 
 - Fixed reduction using `self.log(sync_dict=True, reduce_fx={mean,max})` ([#9142](https://github.com/PyTorchLightning/pytorch-lightning/pull/9142))
diff --git a/pytorch_lightning/plugins/training_type/deepspeed.py b/pytorch_lightning/plugins/training_type/deepspeed.py
index 77af58843cb9a..cb3b007b712ff 100644
--- a/pytorch_lightning/plugins/training_type/deepspeed.py
+++ b/pytorch_lightning/plugins/training_type/deepspeed.py
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 from pytorch_lightning.utilities.distributed import log, rank_zero_info, rank_zero_only
 from pytorch_lightning.utilities.exceptions import MisconfigurationException
 from pytorch_lightning.utilities.imports import _DEEPSPEED_AVAILABLE
+from pytorch_lightning.utilities.seed import reset_seed
 from pytorch_lightning.utilities.types import _PATH, LRSchedulerTypeTuple
 from pytorch_lightning.utilities.warnings import rank_zero_warn, WarningCache
 
@@ -334,33 +335,38 @@ def _load_config(self, config):
         return config
 
     def setup_distributed(self):
-        super().setup_distributed()
+        reset_seed()
+
+        # determine which process we are and world size
+        self.set_world_ranks()
+
+        self._init_deepspeed_distributed()
+
+        # set the ranks and devices
+        self.dist.rank = self.global_rank
+        self.dist.device = self.root_device
         if not self._config_initialized:
             self._format_config()
             self._config_initialized = True
 
-    def init_ddp_connection(self, global_rank: Optional[int] = None, world_size: Optional[int] = None) -> None:
+    def _init_deepspeed_distributed(self) -> None:
         if platform.system() != "Windows":
             # do not set env variables on windows, allow deepspeed to control setup
-            global_rank = global_rank if global_rank is not None else self.cluster_environment.global_rank()
-            world_size = world_size if world_size is not None else self.cluster_environment.world_size()
-            self._set_node_environment_variables(global_rank, world_size)
+            self._set_node_environment_variables()
             log.info(
                 "initializing deepspeed distributed: "
-                f"GLOBAL_RANK: {global_rank}, "
-                f"MEMBER: {global_rank + 1}/{world_size}"
+                f"GLOBAL_RANK: {self.global_rank}, "
+                f"MEMBER: {self.global_rank + 1}/{self.world_size}"
             )
         deepspeed.init_distributed(
             self.torch_distributed_backend, distributed_port=self.cluster_environment.master_port()
         )
 
-    def _set_node_environment_variables(
-        self, global_rank: Optional[int] = None, world_size: Optional[int] = None
-    ) -> None:
+    def _set_node_environment_variables(self) -> None:
         os.environ["MASTER_ADDR"] = self.cluster_environment.master_address()
         os.environ["MASTER_PORT"] = str(self.cluster_environment.master_port())
-        os.environ["RANK"] = str(global_rank)
-        os.environ["WORLD_SIZE"] = str(world_size)
+        os.environ["RANK"] = str(self.global_rank)
+        os.environ["WORLD_SIZE"] = str(self.world_size)
         os.environ["LOCAL_RANK"] = str(self.local_rank)
 
     @property
diff --git a/tests/plugins/test_deepspeed_plugin.py b/tests/plugins/test_deepspeed_plugin.py
index ee82fe9538dbe..c7ccaab3e72f4 100644
--- a/tests/plugins/test_deepspeed_plugin.py
+++ b/tests/plugins/test_deepspeed_plugin.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 from tests.helpers.runif import RunIf
 
 if _DEEPSPEED_AVAILABLE:
+    import deepspeed
     from deepspeed.utils.zero_to_fp32 import convert_zero_checkpoint_to_fp32_state_dict
 
 
@@ -383,12 +384,15 @@ def on_before_accelerator_backend_setup(self, trainer, pl_module) -> None:
 
 @RunIf(min_gpus=2, deepspeed=True, special=True)
 def test_deepspeed_multigpu(tmpdir):
-    """Test to ensure that DeepSpeed with multiple GPUs works."""
+    """Test to ensure that DeepSpeed with multiple GPUs works and deepspeed distributed is initialized
+    correctly."""
     model = BoringModel()
     trainer = Trainer(
         default_root_dir=tmpdir, plugins=[DeepSpeedPlugin(stage=3)], gpus=2, fast_dev_run=True, precision=16
     )
-    trainer.fit(model)
+    with mock.patch("deepspeed.init_distributed", wraps=deepspeed.init_distributed) as mock_deepspeed_distributed:
+        trainer.fit(model)
+    mock_deepspeed_distributed.assert_called_once()
     trainer.test(model)
 
     _assert_save_model_is_equal(model, tmpdir, trainer)
@@ -810,7 +814,7 @@ def test_deepspeed_plugin_env_variables(mock_deepspeed_distributed, tmpdir, plat
     plugin = trainer.training_type_plugin
     assert isinstance(plugin, DeepSpeedPlugin)
     with mock.patch("platform.system", return_value=platform) as mock_platform:
-        plugin.init_ddp_connection()
+        plugin._init_deepspeed_distributed()
     mock_deepspeed_distributed.assert_called()
     mock_platform.assert_called()
     if platform == "Windows":