Edwin Starr - A Profile

Charles Edwin Hatcher (21 Jan 1942 - 2 Apr 2003), better known by his stage name Edwin Starr, is a hero to many Northern Soul fans, for his mid 60s outings on the famed Ric-Tic label in particular, but also for some of his early Motown singles. He was born on this day in 1942 and would have been 81 had he not succumbed to a heart attack on 2 Apr 2003 aged 61.

To the mainstream, he will be best known for his #1 anti-war song "War" in 1970 which was a cover of a Norman Whitfield and Barret Strong song first recorded by The Temptations earlier the same year on their "Psychedelic Shack" album with Paul Williams and Dennis Edwards sharing the lead vocals. The Temptations song was popular, and there were many requests for it to be released as single, but Motown was reluctant to release the controversial song by The Temptations as a single which they thought may risk alienating their conservative fans. A compromise was found by releasing it by a 'lesser' known artist and Edwin Starr volunteered to release it as a single. It went to #1 on the Hot 100 where it topped the charts for three weeks in Aug/Sep 1970 and became his biggest selling single and is regarded as one of the best ever protest songs. It was banned by the BBC whilst the Gulf war was on and on certain US stations in the aftermath of 9/11.

It is said that re-recorded it (with Utah Saints) in 2003 and it was his last recording before he died, but I am not able to find that release, so perhaps it's an urban myth. However, he did perform it for the last time in 2003 at a concert at Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, Stuttgart, Germany on 28 March 2003, just four days before he died. A video of the performance was released on DVD in 2004  "Edwin Starr  - Last Ever Performance". Perhaps it is this recording that was being referred to as his last?

Other hits included "25 Miles", his later disco hits "Contact" and "H.A.P.P.Y. Radio" (which were both top 10 pop hits in the UK) along with a couple of his earlier Ric-Tic recordings, "Agent Double-O-Soul" and "Stop Her on Sight (S.O.S.)".

All six of his early singles for Ric-Tic have been played on the UK Northern Soul scene, some may say 'played out' but nevertheless they were popular in their day. He also recorded one single with The Holidays on sister label Golden World. 

Starr was born in Nashville, TN, on 21 Jan 1942 but moved to Cleveland, OH, when 3 years old and later lived in Detroit. He formed a doo-wop group in 1957, initially called The Imperials but changed the name to The Futuretones as there was another group with the same name. They released just one single "Roll Up" (a rock n roll song) / "I Know" (a doo-wopper) on Fremington, NJ, label Tress the same year, before Starr was drafted into the army for three years. The single must be of interest to collectors, presumably doo-wop collectors, as it was bootlegged in 1973. There is no information on the label, just artist, title and label details, no writer or producers suggesting that it may be a private press as there are no other releases for the label. So I guess they just walked in off the street, recorded and pressed it to sell at their gigs as they were quite popular in Cleveland after winning a local talent show, 'Uncle Jake's Talent Hour', five weeks in a row. The group worked with Billie Holiday.

Upon completion of his military service in 1962 he toured with organist/band leader Bill Doggett which is where he acquired his stage name. Doggett became Starr's mentor who he credits with teaching him professionalism.

He stayed with Doggett until 1965 when he met Detroit DJ LeBaron Taylor (aka Bill Sharpley) who was also a producer and co-owner of Solid Hitbound Productions with Don Davis and also George White (now I wonder if that's the same, recently deceased, George White of The Dynamics?). They would later form, the much revered in Northern Soul circles, Revilot and Solid Hit labels in 1966. Taylor worked at Golden World Studios and introduced Starr to owner Ed Wingate who owned Golden World and Ric-Tic with his with Joanne Bratton.

His first single, "Agent Double-O-Soul", was released on Golden World's Ric-Tic imprint (named after Wingate and Bratton's 11 year old son who died in 1962). The song writing credits are given to Starr under his real name C. Hatcher and LeBaron Taylor under his real name B. Sharpley. The record was a hit reaching #8 R&B and #21 Hot 100. He released a total of six singles for the label ("Agent Double-O-Soul" (RT-103), "Back Street" (RT-107), "Stop Her On Sight (S.O.S.)" / "I Have Faith In You" (RT-109), "Headline News" (RT-114), "My Kind Of Woman" / "You're My Mellow" (RT-120),  "It's My Turn Now" / "Girls Are Getting Prettier" (TR-118). Another was scheduled for release "Meet Me Halfway" / "Throw In The Towel" (RT-126) but remained unreleased, which surprising doesn't appear to have surfaced on any of the Motown Unreleased / Cellarful of Soul type compilations (yet). All of the embolden tracks above have been favourites on Northern Soul dancefloors over the years.

He is also credited as singing on The Holidays' "I'll Love You Forever" released on Golden World. This one is a bit of a mystery. According to an interview with him he says that he was duped into recording it as a demo to show the group how to sing it, but the final recording was actually him singing and not the group and he claims that the group didn't exist, although another single was released as The Holiday on the label, "No Greater Love" / "Watch Out Girl" the same year. Discogs lists their members as Clyde Wilson (aka Steve Mancha), the great, recently deceased, J.J. Barnes, Jimmy Holland and Eddie Anderson (who went on to join 100 Proof (Aged In Soul) along with Clyde Wilson. Coincidentally, that's the third artist mentioned here in the last week who was a member, Joe Stubbs (David Ruffin - A Profile) and Melvin Davis  being the other two).

Whilst in the UK promoting "Stop Her On Sight (S.O.S.)", Wingate sold his company and two labels (Golden World and Ric-Tic) to Motown, rumours abound that he was press ganged into selling by the underworld. Whilst contractual negotiations were ongoing he was unable to release any material, although Motown slipped out "I Want My Baby Back" in Oct 1967 on Gordy which didn't register on any chart. A few of his Ric-Tic a sides featured on his first debut album "Soul Master" in 1968 released on the Gordy imprint.

His first hit with Motown was "I Am The Man For You Baby" (which had a better song on the other side "My Weakness Is You"), followed by "Way Over There", which didn't register, and then came "25 Miles" which reached #6 on both R&B and Hot 100 charts and was successful enough for an album of the same name to be released. Again he was unable to capitalise of the success with a further two singles failing to chart ("I'm Still A Struggling Man" and a duet with Blinky (aka Sondra Williams) "Oh How Happy" (which Starr wrote and was a hit for Shades Of  Blue on Harry Balk's Impact label in 1966) flipped with a very cover of the Smokey Robinson song "Ooo Baby Baby". The album also includes a good cover of "You Made Me So Very Happy", an earlier minor hit for Brenda Holloway, a cover of which Blood, Sweat & Tears had a #3 Hot 100 hit with in 1969.

Around this time Motown was having commercial success with duets, mainly involving Marvin Gaye with Mary Wells, Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell in particular, and brought in the talented Blinky and teamed her up with Starr following his success with "25 Miles". They released a duets album together, "Just We Two". Blinky was a formerly a member of The Cogics (Church of God in Christ Singers), a gospel group formed by Andrae Crouch whilst still at high school which included Crouch, Billy Preston, Edna Wright (aka Sandy Wynns and sister of Darlene Love and married to Greg Perry), Gloria Jones, Sandra Crouch and Frankie K. Springs (aka Frankie Karl). Neither party was happy about the album as it was rushed out, being given a release date even before it was recorded, and they were not involved in it's production and when released felt that they were not supported by Motown. The writing was on the wall as Starr felt that he had no artistic control over his work.

His next single "Time" was a minor hit (#34 R&B / #117 Hot 100), although is possibly one of his Northern Soul favourites. Then he had his biggie with "War" which Motown tried to capitalise on by following it with a copycat song "Stop The War Now" (#5) which they may as well have called "War Pt. 2" and Starr hated it. Only three more of his Motown recordings charted, "Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On" (#6) with Motown exploiting the psychedelic funk sound rife at the time, the credible "There You Go" (#12), perhaps as Starr wrote it and was allowed to produce it, and "You've Got My Soul on Fire" (#40). In between the charting singles were "Take Me Clear From Here" / "Ball Of Confusion (That's What The World Is Today)" (a Temptations cover) and one of my personal favourites from him "Don't Tell Me I'm Crazy". Several more singles ensued, mainly from the his sixth, and final, Motown album which was the soundtrack for "Hell Up In Harlem", none of which charted and by 1975 he'd left Motown.

He released three singles and an album for Granite in 1975 and then joined 20th Century-Fox where he would have his next major success with two disco songs, both of which made Top 10 on the UK pop chart, "Contact" (#6 1978) and "H.A.P.P.Y. Radio" (#9 1979). 

In 1983 Starr moved to England and lived in Bramcote, a village on the outskirts of Nottingham. He had around seven further minor charting singles on the UK chart but made his living doing live shows and his last show was just four days before his death which was held in Stuttgart, Germany, on 28 March 2003.

Copyright © 2009-2023 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved