The James Payne story begins in Theodore, Alabama were at the age of 9, his father handed him his first bass guitar that he started fumbling with. Later that same year his father handed him his first alto saxophone that he started playing in middle school. He went on to perform in the high school chorus, and then went on to perform at church with a great singer name Tawanna Black, who is unknown to most of the public. In 1982 Little Milton called him Little Luther Vandross of Mobile, Alabama.He came up singing gospel at the age of 13 with a small group called The Sensational Five and with them traveled to cities in the Midwest: like Detroit, Michigan and Chicago, Illinois, just to mention a few.Then he moved on to other groups like the Perryman Brother, Sunset Jubilee, and the Mobile soul stirrers along with Singing Sons, all of which where from Mobile, Alabama; and also The Dynamic Counselors of Detroit, Michigan.In 1984 he started a group called U-Can't Touch This out of Pensacola, Florida, and th