Source Material: Freda Payne – “Band of Gold”

Freda Payne is a singer and a actress from Detroit, Michigan who primarily recorded in the ’60s and the ’70s.  Her biggest song is “Band of Gold” (1970).  Here’s a brief backstory on the single: The song was composed by the legendary songwriting trio Holland-Dozier-Holland and their frequent collaborator Ronald Dunbar.  However, the trio penned the record under the pseudonym Edythe Wayne.  They used a pseudonym because they were in the middle of a lawsuit against Berry Gordy. The lawsuit centered around a lack of royalties at Motown.  At the time, Holland-Dozier-Holland were still under contract with Motown’s publishing company Jobete, so they weren’t able to use their names on any of the songs they wrote outside of Motown.  But in 1970, they recruited Freda Payne to record “Band of Gold,” it became one of their biggest songs, and it launched Freda Payne’s musical career.

Freda Payne – “Band of Gold”