WOMAD

Edwin Starr

From United States

Biography supplied by Management 2001Official website www.edwinstarr.infoEdwin Starr has been an integral part of the soul and dance floor scene since the mid-fifties - since the formation of his first band 'The Future Tones' in 1956. He has been on the road ever since and has never put the mic down.Edwin Starr was born in Nashville, Tenessee, as Charles Hatcher in 1942. In 1962, after completing two years of military service in the USA and Germany, he moved to Detroit, the automobile city. By the middle of the decade he was a member of the Artistes on the up-and-coming Ric Tic label under Ed Wingate. Together they released one immortal Northern Soul hymn after the other.Songs like 'Agent 00 Soul', 'SOS' (Stop her on Sight) or 'Headline News' laid the foundations for Edwin's continuing worldwide fame. In 1968 the mogul Berry Goody swallowed up the Ric Tic Artistes and Edwin suddenly found himself on the great Motown record label. 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.Edwin was a somewhat unusual member of the Motown family. He co-wrote some of his numbers and stood out from the Motown programme wiht his rough soul shout. The visionary producer, Norman Whitefield (Temptations, Gladys Knight, Rose Royce) was looking for just this kind of voice. He chose Edwin to sing the re-recording of the song 'War, huh - What is it good for, absolutely nothing' and the single marched all the way to number 1.In the times that followed, more and more Motown Artistes such as Marvin Gaye or Stevie Wonder directed their creative energy towards soul and social criticism. When Edwin parted company with Motown with the soundtrack 'Hell up in Harlem' (samples can be heard on Hip Hop Records from Tone Lock to Ice T) the great age of Motown 'Sound of Young America' was already drawing to a close.One year later, Edwin celebrated his regained freedom with the album 'Free to be Myself' and the 'Afternoon Sunshine' LP. His disco-soul stompers 'Happy Radio' and 'Eye to Eye Contact' and 'Get up Whirlpool' once and for all established him with an enormous audience at the end of the seventies.Edwin Starr has appeared on several theatre tours, including 'The Return of the Giants' with The Four Tops and Temptations, and more recently in 'Dancing in the Streets' with co-stars Martha Reeves and Mary Wilson.Recently in the charts with his guest appearance on the Utah Saints' single 'Funky Music (sure enough turns me on', which was, of course, an original Edwin Starr hit. TV appearances included TFI Friday with Chris Evans.Likewise, Edwin Starr also hit the charts as guest vocalist on the Three Amigos' single '25 Miles'.Edwin has his own new album 'All the Way Live' scheduled for release at the end of the year.