Edwin Starr

In the mid-'60s, gruff-voiced Edwin Starr scored a few hits for Detroit's tiny Ric-Tic label, and then moved on to the mother ship, Motown. There, he's chiefly remembered as an early proponent of message music--"War" (1970) became a #1 pop hit and was later covered by Bruce Springsteen; its followup, "Stop the War Now," reached #26 on the pop charts. His albums are sturdy soul music, not the work of a true trailblazer, but certainly the commendable product of an ace craftsman. Hell up in Harlem is the tough soundtrack to one of the representative blaxploitation films of the era; Legends gives up the most solid stuff; The Millennium Collection is an okay Starr primer. (PAUL EVANS)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide