His disco-soul stompers "Happy Radio", "(Eye to Eye)Contact" and "Get Up Whirlpool" once and for all established him with an enormous audience at the end of the seventies.Įdwin has been twice nominated for a Grammy, once with "Agent 00 Soul", and "H.A.P.P.Y Radio" is in the Hall of Fame.
One year later Edwin celebrated his regained freedom with the album "Free To Be Myself" and the "Afternoon Sunshine" LP. The original background vocals, also done by Stoney and Meat, are still on the track, according to Meat's autobiography "To Hell and Back". Motown replaced the lead vocals with Edwin's as he had just had a hit with "War". When Edwin parted company with Motown with the soundtrack "Hell Up In Harlem" - from which samples can be heard on Hip Hop records from Tone Loc to Ice T - the great Motown "Sound of Young America" was already drawing to a close.įactoid The lead vocals on Edwin's track "Who Is The Leader Of The People" were originally sung by Stoney and Meat Loaf. In the times that followed, more and more Motown artistes such as Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder directed their creative energy towards soul and social criticism. Soulmaster - 1968 25 Miles - 1969 Just We Two - with Blinky - 1969 War and Peace - 1970 Involved - 1971 He chose Edwin to sing the re-recording of the song "War, huh, Whatizzit Good For, Absolutely Nothing" and the single marched all the way to number 1. The visionary producer, Norman Whitfield (Temptations, Gladys Knight, Rose Royce) was looking for just this kind of voice. He got off to a good start with "I Am The Man For You Baby", but it was with "25 Miles" in 1969 that things really took off.Įdwin was somewhat unusual member of the Motown family, he co-wrote some of his numbers and stood out from the Motown programme with his rough soul shout. In 1968 mogul Berry Gordy swallowed up the Ric Tic artistes and Edwin suddenly found himself on the great Motown record label. On hearing Edwin's voice he told him he would be a star one day and said Edwin should use the name Star with an extra 'R'. The name 'Starr' was suggested by Don Briggs, the manager of the Bill Doggett Combo with whom Edwin used to sing. Songs like "Agent 00 Soul", S.O.S (Stop her On Sight)" and "Headline News" laid the foundations for Edwins' continuing world-wide fame. Together they released one immortal Northern Soul hymn after another. By the middle of the decade he was a member of the artistes on the up-and-coming RicTic label under Ed Wingate. In 1962, after completing two years of military service in the USA and Germany he moved to Detroit, the automobile city. He was on the road right to the end.īorn Charles Edwin Hatcher on January 21st, 1942 in Nashville, Tennessee, Edwin was raised and educated in Cleveland, Ohio. La seguente biografia in lingua inglese di Edwin Starr è tratta dal sito ufficiale:Įdwin Starr was an integral part of the soul and dance floor scene since the mid-fifties and the formation of his first band The Future Tones in 1956.
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