TRIBUTES have been paid to a dale singer with “the most amazing voice” who died with covid-19 last week.
Richard Payne, known by his stage name Dixon J Scott, died at Darlington Memorial Hospital on Wednesday, April 1. The international award-winning singer was best known for his country music performances, but was successful across a wide range of genres.
His wife, Jill, described him as a humble man who always saw the best in people.
She said: “The man with the most amazing voice never knew he had the most amazing voice. He just loved singing and he loved the audience response.”
Mr Payne was born in Sunderland on October 27, 1949, and first developed a love for music when he joined a choir in his early teens. He would continue to perform while serving in Germany with the armed forces.
Although he took on a variety of jobs, such as a pattern-making for a suit manufacturer and working in a butcher’s shop, his wife said he “was never a person who could settle into employment” and preferred to be a professional singer.
Mrs Payne said: “He would do a cabaret of everything from the 50s and 60s right up. He was in several bands over the years.”
Later, when starting out solo he took up the stage name Ricky Scott, but after finding out there was already a performer by that name, he changed it to Dixon. Mrs Payne said: “He had a vast range and fantastic tonal range. When he did Roy Orbison you could see the audience hold their breath as they waited for him to hit the high notes.
“My favourite, which he only hit perfectly once, was Someone Else’s Star which he did acappella in Pontefract. If you know northern workingmen’s clubs, you could hear a pin drop when he sang.
“His belief in himself was such that he never did it acappella again.
“He used to do a song My Son, I think by Issy Bon, and grown men would be brought to tears.”
Mr Payne found a love for country music in the 1980s and scooped several awards when he performed at the Louise Mandell Theatre, in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Mrs Payne said: “With the other northern artists they won about 12 awards, including best newcomer and new country song.”
The singer and his wife moved to Teesdale in 1995 and initially settled in Westwick, before moving to Cotherstone and then Middleton-in-Teesdale.
It was through helping his wife, who is known as an artist by the name Jill Hirst, that he started his own picture-framing business in Barnard Castle.
It is not known if it was through the shop or through travelling to a gig that he caught coronavirus.
Aches and pains he developed a few weeks ago were initially attributed to a bout of pneumonia and a car crash he suffered last year.
However, by March 21 his breathing had become so bad that his wife called for an ambulance. He was placed in an induced coma until the decision was taken to withdraw life-support on April 1.
Mrs Payne said: “I want to thank the hospital and the nurses. I feel really sorry for them – they are working so hard and it really upsets them that family cannot be with the patients. It must be so hard for them.”
Mr Payne is survived by his wife, two sons, Liam and Dixon, and their families.
Among those to pay tribute to the musicians was The Witham. A spokesperson for the arts centre said: “Ricky kindly contributed an amazing performance at the second Sunday Night at The Witham fundraising show in April 2019.
“Despite struggling with ill health at the time, he was keen to do the show and didn’t hesitate to come along and give his all. The audience loved his performance.”
Fellow performer Mark Carter said: “I booked Dixon to sing several times for the Barnard Castle Social Afternoon that I founded and ran for five years and he entertained everyone with fantastic vocals, witty banter.”
“He was a legend in clubland and singers from all over the North East have been paying tribute to Dixon.”
