Jay Payton — key figure on Bay Area R& B scene
“Bay Area entertainment is as good as you’re going to get.”
That was Jay Payton’s motto during his more than half century as a key figure on the local African American music scene. Born in Asheville, N. C., on Oct. 29, 1925, he was an all- around entertainer — comedian, dancer, doo- wop singer, television personality and, most significantly, master of ceremonies at such nightclubs as Esther’s Orbit Room, the Showcase, Sportsman, Ruthie’s Inn, Ed Howard’s Place and Jimmie’s Entertainment Complex, as well as at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, Berkeley Community Theater, Paramount Theatre and other Bay Area concert venues.
Mr. Payton, who made his show business debut in 1947 as a tap dancer at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, died of natural causes Friday, Feb. 5, while watching TV at his apartment in San Lorenzo, according to his only child, Larry Payton of Graham, N. C. Mr. Payton was 90.
“There’s more to being an emcee than introducing the artists. Anybody can introduce an artist. If you’re an emcee, you handle the show,” he said in 2007, on the eve of his retirement party. “If something happens, you can fill in. Say, if a drummer breaks his drums, the show stops. But an emcee can go out there and hold the attention of the people till he gets his drums fixed, and then you can turn it right back over to the band. You don’t lose that flow.”
A tireless booster of local R& B talent, Mr. Payton was the glue that held the thenthriving scene together, particularly during the 29 years ( 1968- 97) he produced the annual event called the Top Star Awards at Bimbo’s 365 Club, the Claremont Hotel and other venues.
It served as something of a counterbalance to the betterknown Bay Area Music Awards, or Bammies, which in its formative years largely ignored R& B. ( Although he won as “top dancer” several times, he was careful to point out that he didn’t pick the winners himself but that they were tabulated from ballots mailed to fellow entertainers, club owners, booking agents and artist managers.)
After serving in the Army during the Korean War, Mr. Payton settled in Sacramento. He made his Bay Area premiere in 1954 at Music City Records in Berkeley as a member of the Rovers. The Sacramento singing group recorded a song he had written titled “Ichi- Bon Tami Dachi,” a phrase he had picked up in Japan meaning “No. 1 girlfriend.” Soon he was appearing as a dancer at the It Club, a striptease joint in El Cerrito.
By the late ’ 50s, Mr. Payton was serving as emcee at Facks 2 in San Francisco, where he appeared on bills with such mainstream acts as Dorothy Dandridge, Billy Eckstine, Johnny Mathis and Della Reese.
During the 1960s, he began sharing stages at African American clubs in the East Bay with the likes of headliners Count Basie, Redd Foxx, B. B. King, Lou Rawls, Jackie Wilson, the Ballads, the Whispers and Marvin Holmes and the Uptights.
He hosted a weekly TV show on KEMO, Channel 20, called “Soul Is” in the early ’ 70s, and for six months replaced his childhood idol, dancer Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers, in Jon Hendricks’ “Evolution of the Blues” at the On Broadway Theater in San Francisco.
“He didn’t play around with business,” said Ed Howard, at whose East Oakland club Mr. Payton frequently worked during the ’ 70s. “He was punctual. He wanted anything he was involved with to be firstclass.”
“He told me, ‘ It’s called show business. You have to understand it’s a business,’ ” said former KDIA and KBLX disc jockey Nick Harper. “He was a stickler for being on time.
“He guided me,” added Harper, who for 14 years has been emcee for the nationally touring Legends of Motown tribute show.
Harper credits Mr. Payton with having helped him make the transition from radio to working as a master of ceremonies.
“I was amazed that the guy was in show business and never did drugs, didn’t drink,” said soul singer Lenny Williams — winner of four Top Star Awards, two as Tower of Power’s lead singer and two as a solo artist — of Mr. Payton. “He didn’t have a foul mouth, even when he did comedy and everybody else was cussing.”
“He was well respected,” added veteran vocalist Sugar Pie DeSanto. “All of us liked him.”
In addition to his son, Larry, Mr. Payton is survived by his grandson, Lance Payton, and granddaughters Olivia and Sophia Payton, all of Collegeville, Pa. Funeral services are pending.