Freddie was born on August 20, 1943 in Berkeley, California. His parents came to the Bay Area from Dallas/Fort Worth Texas. His father Fred W Hughes Senior worked as a longshoreman and his mother Lola Mae Anderson was a singer and missionary at the Church of God In Christ in Oakland. It was in this church where Freddie’s qualities as a singer were noticed for the first time when he was only five years old. It took him a few more years, though, to have his first hit single.
In his early years Freddie played in quite a few outfits including the Holidays, Five Disciples, The Markeets, Casanova Two, Music City Soul Brothers and The Four Rivers.
