Edwin Starr

Edwin Starr (born January 21, 1942 in Nashville , Tennessee , USA , † April 2, 2003 in Beeston , Nottinghamshire , England ; real name Charles Edwin Hatcher ) was an American soul singer .

Life

Charles Hatcher and his two brothers Roger and Willie, who were also soul singers, grew up in Cleveland , Ohio . Hatcher began his singing career in 1957 with his band The Future Tones , a doo-wop band. 1960 followed two years in the army and after that he belonged for some time to the Bill Doggett Combo , where he also got his stage name Edwin Starr . In the mid-1960s he recorded his own records for the Detroit record label Ric-Tic , which was to belong to Motown from 1968 .

His first success was the song Agent Double-O-Soul in 1965, a reference to "Double 'O' Seven" (007) and the James Bond hype at the time. The song reached the US top 20. With Stop Her on Sight (SOS) he also became internationally known the following year. More hits followed and with the move to Motown in 1969 his next big success came about. With 25 miles he advanced to number 6 on the pop charts.

The song, for which he is known to this day, was to follow first. In 1970 he got the opportunity to take over the protest song War from the Temptations and release it as a single because the anti-war song did not fit their image. It was a number one hit for Starr . It also gave him the opportunity to work with songwriter and producer Norman Whitfield . The immediately followed-up Stop the War Now was able to benefit from the mood against the Vietnam War , but only reached number 26. By the mid-70s, he released more singles, none of which could build on the success. After he tried the soundtrack to the film Hell up in Harlem in 1974 , but it flopped, the collaboration with Motown ended and he went on a label search.

It wasn't until the late 1970s that he returned to the charts, now at home in England. Fully in line with the disco soul trend , he achieved a number 6 hit in Great Britain with the song Contact , and topped the US dance charts. He was also able to celebrate a similar success with the follow-up single HAPPY Radio .

Edwin Starr continued to release singles throughout the 1980s, but was no longer a big hit. In 1987 he took part in the charity project Ferry Aid , which, with a recording of Let It Be, collected donations from various artists and reached number 1 in the UK. In the 1990s things got quieter for him, only a new recording of War reached the British charts again in 1993.

From 2000 he made several recordings together with other artists, with the Utah Saints he sang on their hit single Funky Music (one of his 70s hits), but he recorded War with them again in 2002 . And with the British producers The Three Amigos he recorded his second biggest US hit 25 Miles again , with which he landed one last time in the British charts before he died in early April 2003 of a heart attack at the age of 61. His last appearance was a week earlier at the Porsche Oldie Night in the Schleyerhalle in Stuttgart .

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		US
1969	25 miles	US73 (13 weeks) US
1970	War & Peace	US52 (13 weeks) US
1971	Involved	US178 (7 weeks) US
1979	Clean	US80 (14 weeks) US
	Happy radio	US115 (8 weeks) US

More albums

• 1968: Soul Master
• 1969: Just We Two (with Blinky)
• 1974: Hell Up in Harlem (Soundtrack)
• 1975: Free to Be Myself
• 1978: Clean
• 1979: Stronger Than You Think I Am
• 1983: For Sale

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		DE	AT	UK	US
1965	Agent Double-O-Soul Soul Master	-	-	-	US21 (11 weeks) US
	Back Street	-	-	-	US95 (2 weeks) US
1966	Stop Her on Sight (SOS) Soul Master	-	-	UK11 (19 weeks) UK	US48 (8 weeks) US	Highest ranking in UK after re-release in 1968
	Headline News Soul Master	-	-	UK39 (3 weeks) UK	US84 (4 weeks) US
1969	Twenty-Five Miles 25 Miles	-	-	UK36 (6 weeks) UK	US6 (14 weeks) US
	I'm Still A Struggling Man 25 Miles	-	-	-	US80 (4 weeks) US
	Oh How Happy Just We Two	-	-	-	US92 (2 weeks) US	with Blinky
1970	Was war and peace	DE9 (11 weeks) DE	-	UK3 silver (12 weeks)UK	US1 (15 weeks) US
	Stop The War Now Involved	-	-	UK33 (1 week) UK	US26 (8 weeks) US
1971	Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On Involved	-	-	-	US64 (6 weeks) US
1973	There you go	-	-	-	US80 (6 weeks) US
1975	Abyssinia Jones Free To Be Myself	-	-	-	US98 (2 weeks) US
1979	Contact Clean	-	-	UK6th silver (12 weeks)UK	US65 (7 weeks) US
	HAPPY radio H.APPY radio	-	-	UK9 (11 weeks) UK	US79 (5 weeks) US
1980	Get Up, Whirlpool Stronger Than You Think I Am	-	AT14 (10 weeks) AT	-	-
1983	Smooth	-	-	UK90 (2 weeks) UK	-
1984	Marvin	-	-	UK89 (1 week) UK	-
1985	It Ain't Fair Through The Grapevine	-	-	UK56 (5 weeks) UK	-
1986	Grapevine Through The Grapevine	-	-	UK83 (4 weeks) UK	-
1987	Whatever Makes Our Love Grow	-	-	UK98 (1 week) UK	-
1989	25 Miles '89	-	-	UK82 (2 weeks) UK	-
1993	War / Wild Thing	-	-	UK69 (2 weeks) UK	-	with Shadow, The Troggs and Wolf

More singles

• 1967: Girls Are Getting Prettier
• 1967: You're My Mellow
• 1967: I Want My Baby Back
• 1968: I Am The Man For You Baby
• 1968: Way Over There
• 1970: Time
• 1972: Who Is The Leader of the People
• 1973: You've Got My Soul on Fire
• 1974: Ain't It Hell Up in Harlem
• 1974: Big Papa
• 1974: Who's Right Or Wrong
• 1975: Pain
• 1975: Stay With Me
• 1976: Accident
• 1977: I Just Wanna Do My Thing
• 1978: I'm So into You
• 1979: It's Called The Rock
• 1979: Tell A Star
• 1980: Stronger
• 1980: Boop Boop
• 1981: Sweet
• 1983: I Wanna Take You Home
• 1985: Missiles
• 1986: Soul Singer
• 1988: Long Line of Lovers
• 1990: She's The One
• 1990: Ain't No Stopping Us Now (with David Saylor)
• 1992: Darling Darling Baby
• 1994: Can't Stop Thinking About You

With The Holidays

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		DE	AT	UK	US
1966	I'll love you forever	-	-	-	US63 (9 weeks) US

Web links

• Official website (English)
• Edwin Starr at Discogs (English)
• Edwin Starr in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Biography at Soul-Patrol (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ For more information on this title, see: Bronson, Fred: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits . 3rd revised and expanded edition. New York City, New York: Billboard Publications, 1992, p. 280
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: DE AT UK US
3. ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK