Her Story

Freda’s music career started when she won an amateur talent contest on WXYZ – TV at the age of 13 and again at the age of 14 in her home town of Detroit Michigan. Not long after, she was on a weekly Radio show called “Make Way for Youth” on WJR Radio, produced by Don Large entitled. The show was produced from the Fisher building in Detroit. Soon Freda began singing radio commercial jingles. Freda also appeared on and won then popular Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour which hailed from New York. This was a huge accomplishment at that time and one which she shared with friend Gladys Knight, and one which propelled her career into fast forward.

This quickly caught the attention of music executives and other artists. At the age of 17, the legendary Pearl Bailey gave Freda her first professional job and this paved the way for her to share the stage with other legends that have included Lionel Hampton, Sammy Davis Jr., Billy Eckstein, Quincy Jones, Bill Cosby and many others.