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Album Art

Track: Band Of Gold (Single Mix)
Artist: Freda Payne
Album: Band Of Gold

Artist Bio

Freda Payne Image

Name: Freda Payne
Spotify Genres: northern soul, motown, classic soul
Followers: 25,736
Popularity:

36/100

Biography

Born September 19, 1942, in Detroit, Michigan to Frederick and Charsilee Payne. She attended Palmer Elementary School and Crossman Elementary School. Payne also modelled and took ballet and Afro-Cuban dance. In 1956, while at Hutchins Middle School, she appeared on the nationally televised Ted Mack's The Original Amateur Hour. Singing jingles, Payne was featured on WJR radio's Make Way for Youth and many other local television and radio shows. Payne's mother spurned a contract from a then unknown, Berry Gordy. When she graduated from Central High School in 1959, Payne toured with [a=Pearl Bailey]'s musical review and sang with the Duke Ellington Band. Her first album was After the Lights Go Down for ABC's Impulse Records in 1962. Moving to New York City in 1963, Payne made appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Merv Griffin Show and The Dick Cavette Show. In 1964, she joined the [a=Four Tops], [a=Billy Eckstine], and [a=Nipsey Russell] on the [a=Quincy Jones] Tour. Payne was an understudy for [a=Leslie Uggams] in Broadway's Hallelujah Baby! in 1967. She also performed in the Equity Theatre production of Lost in the Stars. Stardom for Payne began when she signed with Invictus Records, run by her old Detroit friends, [a=Brian Holland], [a=Edward Holland, Jr.] and [a=Lamont Dozier] (formerly of Motown) in 1969. Payne's smash single "Band of Gold" in 1970 was ranked #1 in the U.K. and #3 in the U.S.A., her first gold record. Other hits included "Deeper and Deeper", "You Brought Me Joy" and the anti-war, "Bring the Boys Home". As her star kept rising, Payne appeared in television specials and toured the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. Although she left Invictus in 1973, to date she has recorded 21 albums including several remakes of "Band of Gold". In 1974, she made the cover of Jet magazine after she was dubbed a Dame of Malta, by the Knights of Malta and the Sovereign Military and Hospital Order of St. John of Jerusalem by the Prince of Rumania. Payne hosted Todays Black Woman, a talk show, in 1980 - 81 before joining the cast of [a=Duke Ellington]'s Sophisticated Ladies in 1982. She also starred in productions of Ain't Misbehavin' with [a=Della Reese], The Blues in the Night, Jellies Last Jam with [a=Gregory Hines] and [a=Savion Glover] into the 1990s. Payne's film appearances include Private Obsession (1995), Sprung (1997), Ragdoll (1999), The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000) and Fire and Ice (2001). Returning to her jazz roots, Payne recently toured with [a=Darlene Love] in a critically acclaimed revue entitled "Love and Payne". With a son from her 1976 marriage to [a=Gregory Abbott], the fitness-conscious Payne lives in the Hollywood Hills. Her sister, [a=Scherrie Payne], also a singer, was a member of Glass House and the last lead singer of the Supremes. Payne was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 28, 2005.

Source: Discogs

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Discogs Release Info

Release Cover

Release: Belinda Carlisle Featuring Freda Payne - Band Of Gold
Year: 1986
Genres: Electronic
Styles: Disco

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Source: MusicBrainz

LYRICS

Now that you're gone,
All that's left is a band of gold
All that's left of the dreams I hold
Is a band of gold
And the memories of what love could be
If you were still here with me

You took me from the shelter of my mother
I had never known or loved any other
We kissed after taking vows
But that night on our honeymoon,
We stayed in separate rooms

I wait in the darkness of my lonely room
Filled with sadness, filled with gloom
Hoping soon
That you'll walk back through that door
And love me like you tried before

Since you've been gone,
All that's left is a band of gold
All that's left of the dreams I hold
Is a band of gold
And the dream of what love could be
If you were still here with me

INSTRUMENTAL BRIDGE

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Don't you know that I wait
In the darkness of my lonely room
Filled with sadness, filled with gloom
Hoping soon
That you'll walk back through that door
And love me like you tried before

Since you've been gone,
All that's left is a band of gold
All that's left of the dreams I hold
Is a band of gold
And the dream of what love could be
If you were still here with me
(repeat and fade out)