Music / Film & TV
Freda Payne
born 1942 · singer, actress
Detroit-born singer of the 1970 smash “Band of Gold”, recorded for Invictus, the label her hometown friends Holland–Dozier–Holland founded after leaving Motown.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 84- Birth name
- Freda Charcilia Payne
- Detroit years
- 1942–1963
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Freda Payne was born in Detroit and grew up listening to Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. As a teenager she studied at the Detroit Institute of Musical Arts, sang radio jingles and won a string of local TV and radio talent shows, an early start she shared with her younger sister Scherrie, who later sang with the Supremes. In 1963 she moved to New York, where she worked as a jazz singer with Quincy Jones, Pearl Bailey and Duke Ellington's circle. In 1969 her old Detroit friends Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland, who had just left Motown, persuaded her to sign with their new label Invictus. The result was “Band of Gold” (1970), a worldwide hit that topped the UK chart, followed by the anti-war song “Bring the Boys Home”. She later worked in musicals, film and television, and in 2017 she was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in her hometown.
Highlights
- “Band of Gold” (1970): US top 5, UK No. 1
- “Bring the Boys Home” (1971), a Vietnam-era protest hit
- Signed to Holland–Dozier–Holland's Detroit label Invictus (1969)
- Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame, Detroit (2017)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1950s
Detroit Institute of Musical Arts
Closed
Detroit music school she attended as a teenager.