Today’s Soul Birthdays – January 21

Edwin Starr – American singer and songwriter. Starr was famous for his Norman Whitfield-produced Motown singles of the 1970s, most notably the number-one hit “War”. Starr was born in Nashville and raised in Ohio, and later lived in Detroit while singing for Ric-Tic and Motown Records.

Richie Havens – American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music encompassed elements of folk, soul, and rhythm and blues. He had an intense and rhythmic guitar style, and played soulful covers of pop and folk songs. He was the opening act at Woodstock.

Snooks Eaglin – American guitarist and singer based in New Orleans. In his early years he was sometimes credited under other names, including Blind Snooks Eaglin, “Lil” Snook, Ford Eaglin, Blind Guitar Ferd.

Billy Ocean – Trinidad and Tobago-born British recording artist who had a string of R&B international pop hits in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the most popular British R&B singer-songwriter of the early to mid-1980s.