R&B legend, Detroit native Freda Payne plays jazz diva Ella Fitzgerald in stage musical

R&B legend, Detroit native and Grammy nominee Freda Payne is bringing jazz luminary Ella Fitzgerald back to life onstage at Meadow Brook Theatre’s “Ella, First Lady of Song,” opening this weekend at the Rochester Hills arts institution on the campus of Oakland University.

Payne, whose “Band of Gold” reached No. 3 in the U.S. and was certified gold (and held the top spot for six weeks in the United Kingdom in 1970), is over the moon with delight at being able to pay tribute to one of her favorite singers. After all, Payne herself, a jazz lover since childhood, started as a jazz singer and still performs jazz numbers during concert gigs.

“When I was 12 years old,” Payne recalled, “I would listen to the radio and I would hear Ella being played, (and) other singers as well like Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, June Christy, Julie London. … I fell in love. By the time I was 13 and 14, I was singing around Detroit. As a matter of fact, I would enter talent contests, and I won a contest on television here in Detroit. It was called the ‘Saturday Dance Party’ with Ed McKenzie, every Saturday afternoon at two o’clock, and it kind of duplicated Dick Clark’s ‘American Bandstand.’

“They had teenagers dancing to all the latest pop songs, and they would have a talent contest and a guest artist every week — whoever was appearing at the Flame Show Bar or the Elmwood Casino, which was right across the river in Windsor. I was on that contest at 13 years old, and I won. I think I sang ‘Too Young to Go Steady.’ The headline guest that afternoon was Sammy Davis Jr. We took a picture together, and I still have that picture.”

Payne was called several months later to appear on the show again and once more won the talent competition by singing “That Old Black Magic.” At 14, she began working with singer and broadcaster Don Large in his chorus, where she was given frequent solos and sang alongside Ursula Walker.

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“But sometimes you have to leave Detroit,” she said. “Not all the time, but sometimes. I left Detroit when I was 18 to go to New York to seek my fame and fortune. But I really captured my fame and fortune by coming back to Detroit. That’s when I signed with Invictus Records — Holland, Dozier, and Holland — and I finally got a hit record.”

The singer has performed the Fitzgerald tribute musical several times at theaters around the country for the last 20 years. Its roots go back to 1995, when Payne and Maurice Hines were touring together in “Jelly’s Last Jam.”

“One day, I was warming up in my dressing room, and I was singing some jazz,” Payne recalled. “Maurice said, ‘Anybody ever tell you that when you sing jazz, you sound like Ella?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I’ve heard that since I was 17.’ Maurice and his brother (Gregory Hines) used to open for Ella at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.”

Hines began developing the idea of a musical about Fitzgerald, and tapped Lee Summers to write the book. At last, Hines was ready to bring the project to the stage.

“He called me and said, ‘You’re my first call,’” Payne remembered, “’and if you can’t do it, I’m gonna call Patti Austin,’ and I said, ‘Okay, I want to do it!'”

In the show, Payne will croon and belt her way through such tunes as “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If it Ain’t Got That Swing”), “Goody, Goody,” “The Nearness of You,” “Too Darn Hot,” “The Lady is a Tramp,” “Oh, Lady Be Good,” and many others, including Fitzgerald’s famous rendition of “Mack the Knife.”

“Ella Fitzgerald’s story is fascinating,” said Travis W. Walter, Meadow Brook Theatre artistic director. “We're thrilled to have Lee Summers here to direct the show he wrote, and with Freda Payne starring, this is going to be a fantastic production. We are so lucky to have such a talented performer play this musical legend.”

Payne described returning home to Detroit for an extended rehearsal and performance period as “very rewarding.”

“I just feel so blessed,” she said. “I feel tremendously blessed that I can come back to a place where it’s close to my hometown where I was born and bred, and knowing that I’m going to be able to see some old friends. Of course, there are quite a few people who’ve left and are not with us any longer, but still, I know I’m going to see a lot of people that I normally don’t get to see on a regular basis unless I come back to Detroit to visit.”

Payne will return once again to metro Detroit in August to perform a set at the Kimmie Horne Jazz Festival.

The remainder of the cast for “Ella, First Lady of Song” includes Nicole Powell as Georgiana Henry and Young Georgiana, Debra Walton as Young Ella and Frances Da Silva, and Eric Coles as Norman Granz, Young Norman, and Joe Da Silva.

“Ella, First Lady of Song” is directed by Lee Summers with Arelis Cruz assisting him. Scenic design is by Kirk A. Domer, costume design by Karen Kangas Preston, and hair and wig design by Wendy Evans. Lighting design is by Eric Van Tassell, assisted by Ava Bell, projection design by Jeromy Hopgood, and sound design by Mike Duncan. Brittanie Nichole Sicker is the stage manager and Lee Cleaveland is the assistant stage manager.

The band is led by musical director Dionne Hendricks on piano and includes Greg Bufford (drums), Gregory Jones (upright bass), Bobby LaVell (reeds), Patrick Adams (trumpet), and Dennis Wilson (trombone). In addition, the band supplements the cast by providing additional characters.

The production runs through June 23. Tickets range from $37 to $46 and are available by calling the Meadow Brook Theatre box office at 248-377-3300 or going online at mbtheatre.com. Student discounts are available at the box office. Groups of eight or more should call 248-370-3316 for group pricing.

Contact Free Press arts and culture reporter Duante Beddingfield at dbeddingfield@freepress.com.