While this would become Starr's signature song, "War" was not originally recorded by this Motown artist. The Temptations had first recorded a version, written by the label's staff writers, Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, for their 1970 album, "Psychedelic Shack". The title track had been the only single released (which made it to number seven on the US pop chart and number two on the soul chart) and many fans had requested "War" to be released as well. However, Motown did not want one of their top-tier artists associated with a potentially controversial song and the group was also apprehensive to the idea of this song as a single. Whitfield, who had produced the track, decided that another artist should re-record the song.
Whitfield approached Starr (born Charles Edwin Hatcher), a less prominent performer with the label who had one significant hit, "Twenty-Five Miles" (which reached number six on the pop chart in 1968) and then decided to go with a bigger, more explosive production than the Temptations' version. Starr's take was an immediate hit and would be one of the first protest songs to find major pop success with Billboard ranking it at number five of the songs of 1970.
While Starr would not enjoy another big hit, he would continue to record and perform. Starr moved to England in 1973 and later had a couple of disco hits, "(Eye To Eye) Contact" in 1978 and "H.A.P.P.Y. Radio" in 1979 with both reaching the top-ten in Britain. Starr would long be admired in England's Northern soul circuit before he passed away there in 2003 at the age of sixty-one. Have a listen to the still timely song of "War" by Edwin Starr:
I had never previously heard the Temptations' version of "War" and so as a bonus, here is that group's take of this classic song:
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