b: 25th December 1944, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.
Once an extremely popular regional attraction, John Edwards moved from the local circuit to the big time when he joined 'The Spinners'.
Born in St. Louis, John Edwards began singing in men's clubs while stationed in Germany during his army days. When he was discharged, Edwards came to Columbus, Georgia.
He appeared once with Wilson Pickett and then did several dates in Chicago, where he met Curtis Mayfield in 1968.
Mayfield got Edwards a session at Weis Records and Jo Armstead produced 'If I Don't Lose My Head' in 1969.
Armstead produced other singles for Weis and Twin Stacks before Edwards moved to Bell in 1972.
Floyd Smith co-wrote and produced 'The Look on Your Face,' after which Edwards moved again to Aware, in 1973.
Smith produced his LP 'John Edwards', and 'Messing up a Good Thing' generated some attention.
However, it was 'Careful Man' in 1974 that got Edwards his first and only hit as a single act, it reached number eight.
When Aware folded, Edwards did a few dates with The Spinners in 1973, but continued his solo career with Cotillion.
His 1976 LP 'Life Love and Living' contained some excellent deep soul tunes, particularly 'Baby, Hold on to Me,' but didn't get much attention.
Edwards joined The Spinners full-time in 1977 and remains with them currently.
'Working My Way Back to You / Forgive Me, Girl' and 'Cupid / I've Loved You for a Long Time' in 1980 are the biggest Spinners hits featuring Edwards to date.
1996 saw the UK release compilation 'Careful Man', that boasted several unreleased tracks including an excellent version of America's 'Tin Man'.
Recently, John suffered a stroke. He is recovering well and G.C. Cameron is standing in for him in the current Detroit Spinners line-up. Thanks to Byron Woods for this information.
Albums:
John Edwards (Aware 1973)
Life, Love & Living (Cotillion 1976)
Careful Man (Kent 1996)
