![]() ![]() Starr had been due to perform at the international music festival Womad - World of Music, Arts and Dance - in Reading, southeast England, in July. There was nobody better on the stage and he was the nicest man you could ever wish to meet." ![]() rock star Suzi Quattro, who met Starr as a teenager in Detroit, Michigan, led the tributes to the soul legend. A long-term resident of Britain, he was best-known for enduring hits "War" and "Contact." One of the first artists to be signed to the Motown record label, Starr had been making records since the 1950s. It was not clear when the singer passed away. In a statement on Starr's official Web site, Kyle said the singer had died following a heart attack at his home near Nottingham, central England. Listen to the B-side of “War,” titled “He Who Picks a Rose”ġ970 my last year in college, war in vietnam raging, personally hating the war, facing the draft, country was divided, my father a republican supported the war, and me going into army reserves, and I were divided…edwin’s song was major artistic/political statement during that time…soundtrack for that time…I felt if I was drafted, I would die in Vietnam…when I heard Springsteen’s story re his dad re Army on The River from LIVE 1975-85, it blew me away….LONDON, England (Reuters) - U.S.-born soul singer Edwin Starr - best known for his anti-conflict song "War" - has died at the age of 61, his manager Lilian Kyle said on Thursday. “War” lasted three weeks in the top spot, before being supplanted by another Motown hit, Diana Ross’ “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” ![]() 29, replacing the soft-rocker “Make It With You” by Bread. Released on June 10, 1970, with a B-side titled “He Who Picks a Rose,” the single entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #72 on July 11 and reached #1 on Aug. Starr’s decision to pick up the tune paid off big-time. Throughout, Starr bolsters the lyric with chanted exhortations, among them, “Say it, say it, say it, good God, y’all,” always returning to the main theme of war being good for “absolutely nothing.” (War), Friend only to the undertaker, awwww In each new verse, the singer spells out the reasons to back up his claim, such as this one: The recording begins with a military-style drum roll that leads to Starr’s horn-punctuated chant of the “What is it good for?” chorus. Listen to the Temptations’ version of “War” Instead, the label decided, another artist on the group’s roster would re-cut the song. The album track had generated a fair amount of interest, especially among college students involved in the protest movement, but Motown was reluctant to associate the Temptations with a politically infused lyric. Written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong (the latter of “Money” fame), “War” had already been recorded and released by the Temptations on their Psychedelic Shack album of 1970. There wasn’t much interest in a new version of that one, but with “War” in 1970, Starr hit gold. You not only keep rooting the walker on-even though you’ve known the happy ending forever-but you probably sing along with him as he makes his way there.įollowing the record’s chart run, Edwin Starr was next heard from via the minor chart single “Oh, How Happy,” his own version of a gospel-tinged tune he’d co-written and which had been a hit in 1966 by the Shades of Blue. “Twenty-Five Miles” is one of those likable numbers that never gets old. Talking Heads’ ‘Stop Making Sense’ Concert Film Restored For Theaters, Vinyl.Doc Severinsen Plays Final Concert… at 95.Dave Edmunds’ ‘Repeat When Necessary’: Where the New Wave Met the Old.American Graffiti Coming to Theaters For 50th Anniversary. ![]()
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