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.
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