Edwin Starr

Edwin Starr - S.O.S. (Stop Her On Sight) 1987

Edwin lived an worked in my area for many years and had a great reputation with all and especially the Northern soul crowd who he genuinely seemed to love and would never disappoint either at a live show or just a live PA! We all miss him. This clip I think was from the Manchester based TV show 'the Tube.' I have many clips of Edwin's career and will share with you.

Starr was born Charles Edwin Hatcher in Nashville, Tennessee in 1942. In 1957, Starr formed a doo-wop group, The Future Tones, and began his singing career. Starr lived in Detroit, Michigan in the 1960s and recorded at first for the small record label Ric-Tic, and later for the famed Motown after it absorbed Ric-Tic in 1968. Ric-Tic later funded a broadway musical under the same name throughout eastern Europe.

The song which began his career was "Agent Double'O'Soul" (1965), a take-off on the James Bond films which were popular at the time. Other early hits included "Headline News", "Back Street", a cover of The Miracles "Way Over There", and the popular "S O S (Stop Her On Sight)". He recorded more soul music for the next three years before having an international chart-topper in "25 Miles" (1968), which peaked at #6 in the U.S. the following year.

The biggest hit of his career, which cemented his reputation as a great soul artist, was the anti-Vietnam War protest song "War" (1970).