Listen to the Best Motown Songs Ever playlist. Frankie Goes To Hollywood recorded it at the height of their initial success in 1984. The song has continued to emphasize the power of its message to future generations. “War” deservedly won the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, and went on to be an international hit, climbing to No.3 in the UK in mid-November. In its eighth chart week, it took over from a song that could not have been more different in its romantic, adult contemporary atmosphere, Bread’s “Make It With You.” A Grammy-winning performance Starr’s powerful vocal delivery brought a real sense of anger and frustration to the recording. Click here or on the image.The result of the new interpretation was a soul classic, with a lyric that was clearly anti-Vietnam but has remained sadly relevant throughout the world ever since. Many of the band's songs are driven by a deep and literate Americana ("I'm Uncle Sam/That's who I am/Been hidin' out/In a rock and roll band" and "Majordomo Billy Bojangles/Sit down and have a drink with me/What's this about Alabama/Keeps comin' back to me?").ĭavid Dodd's exhaustive study tells the story, song by song. The Grateful Dead don't get enough credit for the profound nature of its lyrics. What else is there to say? Here is the story behind every song written by The Beatles. The author, Terry Teachout, also wrote "Pops," the acclaimed bio of Louis Armstrong. The combination of creativity and drama makes for great reading.ĭuke Ellington brought class, sophistication and style to jazz which, until that point, was proudly unpolished and raucous. Musicians as a group are brilliant, but often troubled.
The stories of the great bands and musicians are fascinating. Holland was a co-founder of Squeeze. Starr passed away in 2003. The band leader is Jools Holland and this presumably is his BBC television show. Two observations: He is wearing the greatest shirt ever made and seems very happy for a guy singing about the horrors of war. (Continue Reading…)Ībove is War, which has to be the lead song in any discussion of Starr. After Motown began receiving repeated requests to release “War” as a single, Whitfield re-recorded the song with Edwin Starr as the vocalist, deciding to withhold the Temptations’ version so as not to alienate their more conservative fans. Whitfield first produced the song – a blatant anti-Vietnam War protest – with The Temptations as the original vocalists. “War” is a soul song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for the Motown label in 1969. The Motown ‘s timidness turned out to be the most important moment in Starr’s career: War, it turns out, was recorded by The Temptations before Starr’s version. 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. Here is the beginning of the profile at his website: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. It’s nice to learn that Edwin Starr contributed much more than that. The beginning of War is one of the signature musical moments of the Vietnam War era.
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