Freda
Payne
Freda Payne grew up listening to different jazz singers such as
Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday which helped her develop a
taste for music. As a teenager, she attended the Institute of
Musical Arts; she soon began singing radio commercial jingles
and took part in (and won many of) local TV and radio talent shows.
Her polished voice caught the attention of many different people
including record producers. Berry Gordy wanted to give her a recording
contract with Motown, and Duke Ellington (after allowing her to
sing with his orchestra in Pittsburgh for two nights) also wanted
to give her a contract. However, her mother did not permit these
and wanted her to finish school first.
In 1963, she
moved to New York City and worked with many different entertainers
including Quincy Jones, Pearl Bailey, and Bill Cosby. During that
same year, her debut album, a jazz recording entitled After the
Lights Go Down Low and Much More!!!, was released on the Impulse!
label. This album was reissued on CD in Japan in early 2002, and
again in the United States in 2005. Three years later, she released
her second album (another jazz effort) How Do You Say I Don't
Love You Anymore, for MGM Records. She also made occasional guest
appearances on different television shows including The Merv Griffin
Show and The Tonight Show (with Johnny Carson).
She even added
theatrical credits to her repertoire; she understudied Leslie
Uggams for the Broadway show Hallelujah Baby in 1967 and appeared
with the Equity Theatre in a production of Lost in the Stars.
Although she was doing well at supporting herself in the business,
none of these things helped her break into stardom.
In 1969, her
old friends back home in Detroit, Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier,
and Edward Holland, Jr., persuaded her to sign with their newly-formed
record label Invictus. During that same year, her first Invictus
single, "Unhooked Generation" (a minor R&B hit),
was released. Shortly thereafter, songwriters Edythe Wayne and
Ron Dunbar offered her a song entitled "Band of Gold".
Almost immediately, in early 1970, the song became an instant
pop smash reaching #3 in the US and #1 in the UK; it also gave
Payne her first gold record. An album of the same name proved
to be fairly successful as well. Other Invictus singles included
"Deeper and Deeper", "You Brought the Joy",
and the Vietnam protest song "Bring the Boys Home" (#12,
1971; her second gold record). Her other Invictus albums were
Contact (1971), The Best of Freda Payne (1972, a compilation which
included four new, unissued songs), and her last Invictus album
Reaching Out (1973).
In 1973, being
dissatisfied with her royalties (which were very low to begin
with), she left Invictus and recorded albums for ABC/Dunhill and
Capitol, but she never found the commercial success she had with
Invictus.
In 1981, she
briefly hosted her own talk show "Today's Black Woman"
and also found work acting in different movies, Broadway, and
other theatre productions throughout the eighties. Although she
was concentrating more on acting by that time, she never gave
up music; in 1982, she recorded a single entitled "In Motion"
for the Sutra label in New York, and in 1986, she recorded a remake
of her hit "Band of Gold" with Belinda Carlisle.
In 1990, she
recorded three songs for Ian Levine's UK Motorcity label: another
remake of "Band of Gold," "Memories and Souvenirs,"
and "Only Minutes Away." In the mid-nineties, she released
three albums for Dove Music: I Hate Barney (1995, a comedy album),
An Evening With Freda Payne: Live, and her first (and only) Christmas
album Christmas With Freda and Friends (both 1996). She also continued
her acting career appearing in movies like Private Obsession (1995),
Ragdoll (1999), The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000), and
Fire & Ice (made-for-TV, 2001). In early 2001, she released
a new album (of jazz, pop, and R&B molded into one) called
Come See About Me for the Volt label (the title track is a remake
of the Supremes' hit).
In early 2003,
she performed a show called "Love & Payne" with
Darlene Love at Feinstein's at the Regency in New York City and
at the Cinegrill in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles
getting excellent reviews.
|
