Freda Payne’s name is forever associated with her 1970 classic hit song, “Band of Gold.” But Payne says she was “bred as a jazz singer” and that’s why playing jazz icon Ella Fitzgerald felt natural to her.

“It came easy for me,” she said. “I feel that it’s sort of my calling to play Ella because I’ve done it so many times. This is my fifth time.”

Payne portrays Ella Fitzgerald in the jazz musical, “Ella, First Lady of Song,” from May 29 to June 23 at Meadow Brook Theatre in Rochester Hills. Conceived by Maurice Hines and written and directed by Lee Summers, the musical traces the 60-year career of the singer who won a contest at Harlem’s Apollo Theatre at 15 and later performed around the world.

“It’s loosely based on her life,” Payne said. “When her mother died, (Ella was 15). She was left with her stepfather who abused and molested her. We depict that in the play. She was living on (the) streets. She started out as a dancer and she was good at it. She was begging.”

Then, she entered a contest at the Apollo Theater in Harlem in 1934. “It was a fluke,” Payne said. “She entered the contest as a dancer and when she got out there, she realized because she’d seen the previous acts, she wasn’t as good as she thought she was. The audience started shouting, ‘Do something, don’t just stand there.’ She sang, ‘The Object of My Affection’ — which her mother used to sing to her. She didn’t even know she had (a) good voice and she won.”

The Apollo contest is portrayed in the show. “The lady who plays young Ella (Debra Walton) sings at the Apollo,” Payne said. “She also plays Frances, Ella’s half-sister.”

After the Apollo debut, Ella started to enter other contests and won. “This musician, Benny Carter, heard her sing and took her to Chick Webb, and said, ‘I want you to listen to this lady,’” Payne said.

“He listened to her and was impressed and let her join the band. This was at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. Chick Webb let her know this is her calling. She was starting to develop her scatting (a type of vocal improvisation). Everything started happening from there.”

Payne sings many tunes, including such well-known hits as “ A Tisket A-Tasket,” “Goody Goody,” “Sweet Georgia Brown,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).’”

She considers playing the role of Ella as “one of the highlights of my career. It’s one of the roles that’s had more legs than any other role I’ve ever done.”

Payne first portrayed Ella in 2004 at the Crossroads Theater in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and then in 2014 at MetroStage Theatre in Alexandria, Virginia. “As a result, I got a rave review in The Washington Post,” she said. In 2018, the play had a short run at the Delaware Theatre in Wilmington, and in 2022, it played at Rockville Centre’s Madison Theatre at Molloy University in New York.

A Detroit native, Payne graduated from Central High School and left the city at age 18. “I used to live in New York in the mid-1960s up until the early 1970s. Then I started my residence in Los Angeles in 1971.” She currently lives in Encino, California.

Payne sang with the Duke Ellington Band. Her first album, “After the Lights Go Down,” for ABC’s Impulse Records, was released in 1962. In 1964, she joined the Four Tops, Billy Eckstine, and Nipsey Russell on the Quincy Jones Tour. She was an understudy for Leslie Uggams in Broadway’s “Hallelujah, Baby” and performed in the show five times.

After signing with Invictus Records, she recorded “Band of Gold” in 1970, which was ranked No. 3 in the United States. She left Invictus in 1973 and has recorded more than 20 albums. She performed in Duke Ellington’s “Sophisticated Ladies” in 1982. She said she performed in six companies of that show. She also starred in productions of “Ain’t Misbehavin’” with Della Reese, “The Blues in the Night,” and “Jellies Last Jam” with Gregory Hines and Savion Glover into the 1990s.

Payne has released a new album, “Let There Be Love,” which features four duets — with Johnny Mathis, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kurt Elling, and Kenny Lattimore. She will be signing the album and her memoir, “Band of Gold: A Memoir,” after the show.

“I am so enjoying being at Meadow Brook Theatre,” she said. “The staff here and everything about it is first class. This is the best treatment and organization in terms of theater I’ve ever experienced.”

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

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.

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 ticketmaster.com. Student discounts are available at the box office. Groups of eight or more should call 248-370-3316 for group pricing.