Freda Payne

Freda Payne 1970

Freda Charcelia Payne (born September 19, 1942 in Detroit , Michigan ) is an American soul and jazz singer who, with Band of Gold, made a worldwide hit and classic of soul music in 1970 . Between 1969 and 1982 it had a total of ten hits on the American R&B charts.

biography

Freda Payne started her career with jazz artists such as Pearl Bailey , Quincy Jones and Duke Ellington . Her first album produced by Bob Thiele , which was hardly noticed in 1964, also contains jazz recordings. A collaboration with another prominent producer, Tom Wilson , brought a change of direction towards soul and pop, but no major commercial success.

In 1969 things were looking up: Payne received a recording contract with the Invictus label, which was recently founded by the Motown producer trio Holland-Dozier-Holland . The Unhooked Generation was her first minor hit on the R&B charts at the end of the year. The great success came with the subsequent single Band of Gold and the album of the same name. The song reached number three on the American Hot 100 and even number one on the UK charts . In the United States, Payne received a gold record . Hits like Deeper & Deeper and Cherish What Is Dear to You (While It's Near to You) followed before Payne received another gold award in 1971 with the anti-war song Bring the Boys Home . The song reached number 12 on the pop and number 3 on the R&B charts and was her greatest success there. With You Brought the Joy she had another medium crossover success at the end of 1971, after which the buyers' interest was limited to the R&B area.

In 1974 Payne moved to ABC for two albums and finally to Capitol in 1977 . Here she changed her music style towards disco . Three albums were made by the end of the decade, but her only hit in the top 20 of the Billboard dance charts was Love Magnet (1977) . In the same year the recording I Wanna See You Soon was made with the label colleagues Tavares .

In the 1980s, things slowly calmed down around Payne. The show she hosted Today's Black Woman did not have much success. With the single In Motion , she said goodbye to the R&B charts in 1982: the song only rose to number 63 on the hit list. A year later, Payne was featured in the Duke Ellington revue Sophisticated Ladies . In 1986 Belinda Carlisle produced a cover version of Band of Gold with Freda Payne as a guest singer. The track peaked at number 26 on the Billboard Dance chart.

Since the mid-1990s Payne was again present in the music scene and released albums at irregular intervals. In addition, she tried her hand at actress every now and then. She can be seen in a small role in the movie Family Klumps and the Crazy Professor (2000).

In 2002 she presented the revue Love & Payne with Darlene Love and Michael Feinstein .

In 2011, a single with Cliff Richard followed for his album Soulicious , which was produced by Lamont Dozier . Both appeared with this title several times on British television. Payne also accompanied Richard as a star guest on his tour of the same name.

Her last album to date, Come Back to Me Love , was created in 2014 with Grammy Award winner Bill Cunliffe , who arranged her style with a big band more towards jazz.

Private

Payne was married to soul singer Gregory Abbott from 1976 to 1979 . The two have a son.

Scherrie Payne is the sister of Freda, who was a member of the soul groups The Glass House and the Supremes in the mid-1970s .

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		DE	UK	US	R&B
1970	Band of Gold Invictus 7301	-	-	US60 (13 weeks) US	R&B17 (13 weeks) R&B	First published: August 1970 Producers: Holland – Dozier – Holland
1971	Contact Invictus 7307	-	-	US76 (18 weeks) US	R&B12 (14 weeks) R&B	First published: June 1971 Producer: Holland – Dozier – Holland
1974	Payne & Pleasure Dunhill 50176	-	-	-	R&B55 (5 weeks) R&B	First published: August 1974 Producer: McKinley Jackson

More albums

• 1964: After The Lights Go Down Low And Much More !!! ( Impulse! A-53)
• 1966: How Do You Say I Don't Love You Anymore ( MGM 4370)
• 1973: Reaching Out (Invictus 32493)
• 1975: Out of Payne Comes Love (ABC 901)
• 1977: Stares and Whispers ( Capitol 11700)
• 1978: Supernatural High (Capitol 11864)
• 1979: Hot (Capitol 12003)
• 1995: Freda Payne Sings the (Unauthorized) I Hate Barney Songbook: A Parody (Dove)
• 1996: Christmas with Freda and Friends (Dove)
• 2001: Come See About Me (Volt 3420-2)
• 2007: On the Inside (BOG)
• 2014: Come Back to Me Love (Artistry Music)

Live albums

• 1965: Freda Payne in Stockholm ( Sonet ; re-released in 1971 in US on USA Records)
• 1994: Greatest Hits Live in Concert
• 1996: An Evening with Freda Payne: Live in Concert (Dove, re-released as Live in Concert in 1999 )
• 2007: Live in Concert

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		DE	UK	US	R&B
1972	The Best of Freda Payne Invictus 9804	-	-	US152 (8 weeks) US	R&B44 (12 weeks) R&B	First published: March 1972

More compilations

• 1984: Bands of Gold
• 1989: Deeper and Deeper: The Best of Freda Payne
• 1990: Greatest Hits
• 1997: The Best of Freda Payne
• 2000: Lost in Love
• 2000: Band of Gold: The Best of Freda Payne
• 2001: Unhooked Generation: The Complete Invictus Recordings (2 CDs)
• 2006: The Best of Freda Payne
• 2009: High standards
• 2009: Band of Gold + Contact + The Best Of + Reaching Out (2 CDs)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	UK	US	R&B	Dance
1969	The Unhooked Generation Band of Gold	-	-	-	R&B43 (3 weeks) R&B	-	First published: November 1969 Authors: Edith Wayne , Ron Dunbar
1970	Band of Gold Band of Gold	DE32 (4 weeks) DE	UK1 (19 weeks) UK	US3 gold (20 weeks)US	R&B20 (16 weeks) R&B	-	First published: February 1970 No. 391 on the Rolling Stone 500 (2004 list) Authors: Edith Wayne, Ron Dunbar
	Deeper and Deeper Band of Gold	-	UK33 (9 weeks) UK	US24 (12 weeks) US	R&B9 (9 weeks) R&B	-	First published: September 1970 Authors: Edith Wayne, Ron Dunbar, Norma Toney
1971	Cherish What Is Dear to You (While It's Near to You) Contact	-	UK46 (2 weeks) UK	US44 (8 weeks) US	R&B11 (7 weeks) R&B	-	First published: February 1971 Authors: Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier , Angelo Bond
	Bring the Boys Home Contact	-	-	US12 gold (13 weeks)US	R&B3 (13 weeks) R&B	-	First published: May 1971 Authors: Angelo Bond, General Johnson, Greg Perry
	You brought the joy contact	-	-	US52 (8 weeks) US	R&B21 (6 weeks) R&B	-	First publication: September 1971 Authors: Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier
1972	The Road We Didn't Take Contact	-	-	US100 (2 weeks) US	-	-	First published: December 1971 Authors: Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Daphne Dumas
1973	Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right Reaching Out	-	-	-	R&B75 (3 weeks) R&B	-	First publication: July 1973 Authors: Holland – Dozier – Holland
1974	It's Yours to Have Payne & Pleasure	-	-	-	R&B81 (7 weeks) R&B	-	First published: November 1974 Authors: McKinley Jackson, Reginald Dozier
1977	Love Magnet Stares and Whispers	-	-	-	R&B85 (8 weeks) R&B	Dance18 (11 weeks) Dance	First published: October 1977 Authors: Frank Wilson, John Footman, Judy Wieder
1982	In motion	-	-	-	R&B63 (6 weeks) R&B	-	First published: September 1982 Authors: Edmund Sylvers, Vincent Brantley
1986	Band of Gold Belinda	-	-	-	-	Dance26 (8 weeks) Dance	First published: November 1986 Belinda Carlisle feat. Freda Payne

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More singles

• 1962: (Desafinado) Slightly Out of Tune (release: September)
• 1963: Grin and Bear It (release: April)
• 1964: Sweet September (release: January)
• 1966: You've Lost That Lovin 'Feelin' (released May)
• 1972: Through the Memory of My Mind (release: August)
• 1973: Mother Misery's Favorite Child (released October)
• 1975: I Get Carried Away (release: April)
• 1975: You (release: October)
• 1977: I Get High (On Your Memory) (released January)
• 1977: Bring Back the Joy (release: May)
• 1978: Stares and Whispers (release: January)
• 1978: Happy Days Are Here Again / Happy Music (Dance the Night Away) (Release: September)
• 1979: I'd Do Anything for You (release: March)
• 1979: Red Hot (release: September)
• 2016: Memories and Souvenirs (release: March 7th)

swell

1. ^ Freda Payne: Keeping Fit for Show Biz
2. ↑ http://variety.com/2002/music/reviews/love-and-payne-darlene-love-and-freda-payne-1200546087/
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: DE UK Billboard Hot 100 Billboard 200
4. ↑ ^{a b c} gold / platinum database US
5. ^ Joel Whitburn : Top R&B Albums 1965–1998, ISBN 0-89820-134-9 .
6. ^ Joel Whitburn : Hot R&B Songs 1942–2010: 6th Edition, ISBN 978-0-89820-186-4 .
7. ^ Joel Whitburn : Hot Dance / Disco 1974-2003, ISBN 978-0-89820-156-7 .
8. ↑ RS500 Songs (List 2004) ( Memento from June 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

• Official website of Freda Payne
• Freda Payne at Allmusic (English)
• Freda Payne at Discogs (English)
• Freda Payne in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Discography at 45cat.com