Background
Payne was born in Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland.
Payne was born in Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland.
He also composed the song "Wave Over Wave" with Janis Spence and founded the record label SingSong Incorporated. Payne performs regularly with Fergus O"Byrne and with the band A Crowd of Bold Sharemen. He is also one half of the musical comedy duo, "Sods"n Rhymes," with Glenn Downey.
He has directed, composed, and performed music, as well as creating soundtracks for plays, documentaries and videos.
He has performed on radio and television in Canada and abroad, and has toured throughout Canada, the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia. His recordings range from original solo efforts, to contributions to anthologies of Newfoundland music
He also owns a recording company, "SingSong Incorporated.", which provides support and production work for recordings by other Newfoundland artists. Started in 1989, the label is dedicated to traditional and contemporary music, story, song and dance that reflect the Newfoundland experience.
As of 2005, the label has fourteen currently available titles, making it the largest traditional music label in the province of Newfoundland.
In 2005, SingSong published a Civil Defense-ROM version of Kenneth Peacock"s 1965 book Songs of the Newfoundland Outports, thus making the long out-of-print work more widely available than it had been. The Civil Defense-ROM was produced as a collaboration between Payne"s company and the Canadian Museum of Civilization. SingSong also works in conjunction with the Newfoundland Museum and the Historic Resources Division of the Department of Tourism and Culture to produce music at various music festivals.
The series was developed by SingSong and presents Sunday afternoon concerts throughout the summer by performers of Newfoundland traditional folk music
The company is also a sponsor of the Newfoundland Folk Music Club, a regular performance event in Saint John"s produced by The Saint John"s Folk Arts Council. SingSong recordings are distributed in Canada by Tidemark Music and Distribution and by Camsco Music in the United States of America. Wave Over Wave.
