"Now and Then With Justin Kantor" is a new SoulTracks feature where we have an in depth conversation with a classic soul star about his or her career, including what's happening now. Noted soul music writer Justin Kantor is our guide bringing SoulTrackers up to date on their favorite stars. Do you have ideas for future "Now and Then" features? You can connect with Justin on Twitter. And let us know what you think!
"Now and Then With Justin Kantor" is a new SoulTracks feature where we have an in depth conversation with a classic soul star about his or her career, including what's happening now. Noted soul music writer Justin Kantor is our guide bringing SoulTrackers up to date on their favorite stars. Do you have ideas for future "Now and Then" features? You can connect with Justin on Twitter. And let us know what you think!
With an array of accomplishments in the worlds of R&B, Pop, musical theatre, and movies, Freda Payne has transcended the changing styles and trends of contemporary song over the course of five decades. While listeners from several generations instantly recognize her golden tones as the vocal conduit of the timeless hits "Band of Gold" and "Bring the Boys Home," many do not realize just how prolific she has been on stages across the world. On the occasion of the upcoming release of Come Back to Me Love, she chats with Justin Kantor about the many phases of her versatile career and how she is coming full circle stylistically with her latest endeavor.
Although you really started to develop your vocal talents as a teenager, I've read a fascinating story that you cut your very first song—along with your sister, Scherrie—when you were five years old. It was called "Hey Bop a Be Bop"?
(Laughs) Yes, that's true! When we listen to it now, we crack up. I think that I was four, and Scherrie must have been three, judging by the sound of our voices and the articulation. We were at an amusement park. It was like one of those booths where you go in and take a picture. It wasn't a recording studio! The record was only about a minute long. Scherrie still has [the acetate].
How did you come to get serious about singing during your teen years?
I didn't even know I had talent until I was 12. My piano teacher discovered that. She was auditioning her piano students for the next recital. She said, "Freda, I'd like to hear your voice to see if you're good enough to be in the ensemble." I sang for her, and she wanted me to do a solo! That was the first time I sang in front of a real audience. It was in front of about 200 people.
How did you make the jump from those kinds of performances to singing with the Jimmy Wilkins Band?
I started to enter talent contests around Detroit. I entered one on TV, on WXYZ channel 4. There was a show called Ed McKenzie's Dance Hour. It was like a local version of American Bandstand. But more than Dick Clark's show, Ed would feature major artists in town who were headlining at a local nightclub. Sammy Davis, Jr., was on the show once. Then they'd feature a talent contest with four acts. I won that. Then, when I was 16, I went to New York and did the national program, Ted Mack Amateur Hour. Today, his show would be the equivalent of American Idol or The X Factor. It's funny, I just obtained a DVD of my segment. You can see the innocence and the cuteness, but my voice sounds almost the same! You could tell I had something back then.
From what I've read, you would often rehearse with the Jimmy Wilkins Band near General Motors' headquarters?
I wasn't actually a part of the band. But Jimmy would hire me to sing two or three songs with the band when he performed for local dances or cotillions at the Latin Quarter, a great spot located on West Grand Boulevard. They'd hire big bands. He'd hire me and pay me $45. I also sang on the radio from age 13 to 16 on a show called Don Large's Make Way for Youth. That emanated from the iconic Fisher Building, which is located directly across the street from the office buildings that housed the original GM offices. Growing up, I lived about three blocks from there. The radio station, WJR, was in the penthouse at Fisher. They had a big band, and a chorus that I was part of. Don Large would ask me to do solos now and then. That got me exposure, as well.
That's how I came to the attention of Berry Gordy, who at that time was a struggling, hustling songwriter. I was his first female protege. I was about 14. He contacted my mother and wrote three songs for me. We recorded them at United Sound Studio on West Grand. Then we drove to New York with a business partner of his, George Kelly. When we arrived, he took a meeting with Morris Levy of Roulette Records. We came back to Detroit. Berry wanted to have a meeting with my mom at my house. They were sitting in the living room, and I was sitting in the hallway on the staircase, listening. They went back and forth about percentages and what the company would pay for and what would be charged to me. She said, "That doesn't leave my daughter with anything, so what's the whole point?" She passed on it.
Shortly thereafter, you moved to New York, correct?
Yes, I graduated from high school at age 16, and I went to New York when I was 18.
What prompted the move?
I didn't see that much future in Detroit at the time, especially after the experience with Berry. Mind you, when people hear "Motown" and "Berry Gordy," they think of ultimate success. There was none of that happening then. He was struggling like a lot of songwriters and producers that I met in New York who were looking to get their projects going and find their next hit. In the meantime, I went to New York to seek my fame and fortune. I told my mother and father I wanted to go, and they supported me financially.