A Washingtonian, Dr. Rickey Payton, Sr. is a member of the GRAMMY’s, a former music scholar for the Smithsonian Institute, a prolific composer, music producer, and teacher. He attended Howard University where he studied music and entertainment law and holds an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from the Breakthrough Bible College. Dr. Payton taught choral music for over twenty years at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. Currently, he serves as choral music teacher at Lanham Christian School in Lanham, MD. For over thirty years, he served as the minister of music at the New Bethel Church of God in Christ under the leadership of the late Bishop Sherman S. Howard, who also appointed him as the State Minister of Music for the Washington, D.C. jurisdiction, Church of God in Christ, where he also served as the executive director of the office of the president, and was later promoted to serve as vice president.
Dr. Payton, along with Dr. Sheila Johnson Newman, formerly of Black Entertainment Television, cofounded the nationally renowned Urban Nation H.I.P. – H.O.P. Choir, an acronym for Hope, Integrity, Power – Helping Our People. In keeping with his strong commitment to peace and social justice, Rickey is also the cofounder, former board member, composer and musical director of City at Peace, a youth organization that uses the performing arts to teach tolerance and cross-cultural understanding. With the group, he has had performances at the John F. Kennedy Center and a featured story on “Nightline” with Ted Koppel; City at Peace was released as a 90-minute feature documentary on HBO. Dr. Payton is on the board of Hollywood Heart, a youth organization in Los Angeles that provides programs for young people who are infected with or families who have been impacted by HIV/AIDS.
He shared his gift with the world when his song “Let’s Build A Bridge All Across America” was one of the highlights of President Bill Clinton’s second inaugural ceremony in January 1996, and in 2008 he composed the song “Yes, We Can” for President Barack Obama’s first inauguration. Dr. Payton has traveled extensively around the world, with appearances at the International Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, and command performances at the White House and the Vatican. He has worked with such superstars as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, Celine Dion, John Legend, and Patti LaBelle.