Edwin Starr The biggest hit of his career, which cemented his reputation as a great soul artist, was the anti-Vietnam War protest song "War" (1970). A rousing tour-de-force, the vocals to "War" were - according to Starr - recorded in one take: an accomplishment which might make modern artists quail with apprehension. In explanation, Starr remained characteristically modest, explaining that he'd been allocated little studio time, so had to give each song his best shot. Starr's intense vocals transformed a Temptations album track into a #1 chart success, which spent three weeks in that top position on the US Billboard charts, an anthem for the antiwar movement and a cultural milestone that continues to resound a generation later in movie soundtracks and hip hop music samples. "War" appeared on both Starr's War and Peace LP and its follow-up, Involved. Involved also featured another song of very similar construction titled "Stop the War Now", which was a minor hit in its own right. Moving to England in 1973, Starr continued to record music into the 1970s, most notably recording the song "Hell Up In Harlem" for the 1974 film, Hell Up in Harlem, which was the sequel to Black Caesar, an earlier hit with a soundtrack by James Brown. In 1979, Starr reappeared on the charts with a pair of disco hits, titled "(Eye-To-Eye) Contact" and "HAPPY Radio". By now he had joined the well-established disco boom, and had further singles out on the record label 20th Century Records. Over the ...
