Ella Fitzgerald tribute at Bucks County Playhouse

Since the recent storm shortened the concert schedule for Freda Payne, singer of the disco-era top-charter “Band of Gold,” Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope is bringing her back Oct. 29 through 31, to perform her “Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald.”
Payne, an accomplished R&B and jazz vocalist, pays tribute to the legendary Ella Fitzgerald’s 60-plus-year career from her 1934 award–winning Apollo Theater debut and through her celebrated career as a vocalist.
Payne, the star of such Broadway shows as “Jelly’s Last Jam,” “Sophisticated Ladies” and “Blues in the Night,” “recreates the spirit of Ella” with her renditions of “A Tisket, A-Tasket,” “Sweet Georgia Brown,” “It Don’t Mean A Thing” and “Mack the Knife,” as well as many other Fitzgerald classics.

Payne has been busy this year with a new five-song EP called “Let There Be Love” recently released, highlighted by four duets with special guests – Dee Dee Bridgewater, Johnny Mathis, Kurt Elling and Kenny Lattimore. In addition, her memoirs are being published in a book titled “Band of Gold,” scheduled to be released Nov. 2.
Payne is best known for her career in music during the mid–1960s through the mid–1980s. Her most notable record is her 1970 hit single, “Band of Gold.” Payne was also an actress in musicals and film, as well as the host of a TV talk show. Payne is the older sister of Scherrie Payne, a former singer with the American vocal group The Supremes.
Tickets to Freda Payne in “A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald” are on sale at buckscountyplayhouse.org or by calling the Box Office at 215-862-2121.

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