Trevor W. Payne, C. M.

Music

Trevor W. Payne, C. M., has directed the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir from its humble beginnings as a church youth choir to its current situation, performing for dignitaries around the world. The choir has sung for Nelson Mandela and Queen Elizabeth II, and appeared on stage with Foreigner, Oliver Jones, Salome Bey, Céline Dion, and Ray Charles; and earned a Juno Award in 1995 for its CD, Jubilation V: Joy to the World. In 1996, he was appointed to the Order of Canada. Payne, who moved to Montreal from the Barbados as a boy, became a pop musician in the sixties, studying music at McGill University in the early seventies. While he admits that he can be a demanding choir director, he told The Hour that his proudest moments come “in rehearsal when the kids struggle and struggle and struggle and finally they hit it and everybody gets the chills, including me.” He was inducted into their Montreal Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. (PF)