A TRIBUTE TO JOHN EDWARDS

Photo courtesy of Lori

 John Livingston Edwards is best known as the lead vocalist of the Spinners. He held that position for 25 years, from 1977 till 2002. Prior to that, John had a solo career, with a good following, and he released two albums.

On May 10th, sad news reached us. John had gone into the hospital for a diabetes-related issue. The first issue brought other issues, and he passed away on May 9, 2025. He was 80 years old. Until recently, John had been in a good condition. According to his wife, Lori, "his life was full of travel, concerts and hanging around with family and friends."

 Born in St. Louis, Missouri, on 25 December 1944, among John’s earliest musical influences there were many gospel quartets such as the Highway Q.C.’s, the Dixie Hummingbirds, Five Blind Boys, Pilgrim Travelers and the Soul Stirrers. John: “I was influenced by those groups, because my mother was a very religious woman, and those were some of her favourite groups as I was growing up. Then came Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson, Al Green, Bobby Womack and Wilson Pickett later. I sang in church, locally in St. Louis. There was a group that I travelled with for a brief period of time, maybe when I was fifteen. We were called the Starlight Jubilee Singers.”

 John joined the armed forces in 1963, was stationed in Ansbach, Germany, where between 1963 and ’65 he sang in army clubs. Back in the U.S. he was transferred from Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, to Fort Benning, Georgia, where he would work together with James & Bobby Purify and Oscar Toney Jr. in clubs in Columbus, Georgia. John: “From Georgia they sent me to the Far East, basically Okinawa, and after that I was discharged from the army in 1968. I went to Chicago, where first I worked at the United Steel Corporation.”

 In 1968 John met Donny Hathaway. John: “We just happened to meet at a night club, and then Donny introduced me to Curtis Mayfield. This was almost two years before I got my first recording contract - - Curtis suggested that I go by this place that had recently started operation. I went by there and they seemed to like my voice. We actually did a demonstration record and it got played on the radio for maybe three months and that was it.” That demonstration record and actually John’s first single – If I Don’t Lose My Head/My Pride Won’t Let Me – was released on Weis Records in late 1969 and the follow-up, an intense and dramatic soul ballad called There’ll Never Be Another Woman, was released nine months later.

 Singles number three and four were released on Twin Stacks (One More Time) and Bell (It’s Those Little Things That Count) in 1971 and ’72. John: “It was all by fortunate circumstance that I was able to meet a gentleman from Florida, who invited me to come down to his state to perform. I met him in Chicago, after Weis and Twin Stacks. I eventually went down there and wound up meeting quite a few people that were knowledgeable as far as the music is concerned. He has since passed away, but his name was Cecil Graham. He was just basically a very, very good friend of mine, and he took it upon himself to act as my independent agent. Then I wound up joining GRC (General Recording Corporation) as a solo artist, and the rest is basically history. This company was based out of Atlanta, Georgia.”

AWARE and COTILLION

 Produced by Floyd Smith and recorded at the Sound Pit Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, John’s first eponymous album was released on Mike Thevis’ Aware label in 1973 and it spawned as many as four charted singles: Stop This Merry-Go-Round, Messing up a Good Thing, Careful Man and Vanishing Love. Actually, many songs on this album and also on John’s later recordings were written or co-written by Sam Dees.  John: “I was aware as to who exactly Mr. Dees was, and I was given a sampling of some of the things he had written, but I never had the opportunity to meet him.” The mid-tempo and half-spoken Jimmy Lewis’ song Careful Man reached # 8-soul and became John’s biggest solo hit.  John: “It really didn’t change my career as far as popularity. It just helped me to gain more noted name as far as record producers and radio programmers were concerned.”

 Al Jackson worked as a producer on John’s second album and it was almost finished, but then two unfortunate things took place. First, Al got killed in a domestic dispute, and secondly GRC and Aware Records went out of business. However, the tracks were later released on the U.K. Kent compilation titled Careful Man in 1996. John: “Those songs were all selected by Mr. Jackson, but unfortunately we didn’t have a chance to put the album into full production.”

 John’s second solo album - Life, Love and Living – was released in 1976 on Cotillion, a subsidiary of Atlantic.  John: “That was due to the working of Buddy Allen. By that time, I was aware of who Buddy was and his associations with the Spinners (manager), and he was primarily responsible for that. Henry Allen was a very, very nice man.” On behalf of the Atlantic Records, Henry signed John’s solo contract.

 Divided into the “meat” and “sweet” side, the album was produced by David Porter, and they used three southern studios – Malaco, Muscle Shoals and Ardent. The charted single sides were the pleading Baby, Hold on to Me and the deep Nobody, but You. In-between they released The Christmas Song.

Photo courtesy of Lori

A NEW SPINNER

 Henry Fambrough (of the Spinners): “Philippe Wynne was taken sick in 1975. We asked John to take his place. John toured with us for about six weeks, and when Philippe came back and then decided he was going to leave again, we contacted John to replace him and he agreed.” Released in August 1977, Heaven on Earth (So Fine) was the first Spinners forty-five led by John. John: “That was to accommodate the changed over from being a solo artist to joining a group that was already established with a sound of their own.”

 The Spinners albums “8” (in 1977) and “From Here to Eternally” (in 1979) were the last ones that Thom Bell produced for the group. Thom: “I wasn’t quite able to give John the best possible product. That’s when I let the company know that I’ve gone as far as I could go. You don’t want to drag the artists down to nothing. It was time to find somebody else, who could be just as enthusiastic as I had been back in the early 70s.”

 They found Michael Zager, who produced the next three albums, and they contained such huge disco hits as Working My Way back to You & Forgive Me Girl (1979) and Cupid & I’ve Loved You for a Long Time (1980). John: “Working My Way back to You worked well for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons back in the sixties. With the insert that Michael provided, Forgive Me Girl, I thought it was enough of a good twist on the song to make it really interesting. - - Sam Cooke was and still is my all-time favourite artist. Michael overheard me singing some songs by Sam Cooke, and he just decided to run with the idea and do a remake of Cupid and also introduce the bridge, I’ve Loved You for a Long Time, into the song.”

 On the B-side of one his disco singles (Yesterday Once More & Nothing Remains the Same in 1981) Michael placed a familiar song from the past, Be My Love, led by John. Michael: “It was my idea. I thought a standard would really work with John’s great voice.” John: “Michael heard me messing around in the studio, and that’s where that idea came from. I was just clowning in-between takes, imitating various people, doing also light opera.”

 Producers on the Spinners’ next albums included Mtume & Lucas and Freddie Perren, who chose Willie Nelson’s Funny How Time Slips Away for the Grand Slam album in 1982, and here the highlight is John’s searing falsetto at the end. John: “We were sitting in the lounge at the studio and we were talking about various influences that we had been involved in. I just happened to mention that I had more or less been a lover of that song.”

 Leon Sylvers, Dana Meyers & William Zimmerman, Fred Pittman, Dick Clark, Ollie E. Brown and numerous other production units were involved in working on the rest of the 1980s and 1990s albums by the Spinners, and almost on each album we could admire John’s great voice on certain mostly downtempo standout tracks.

 In 2000 John Edwards had a mild stroke, and G.C. Cameron replaced him. Henry Fambrough: “He came in and filled for John. When John got better, he came back, but we kept him and everything went well. We came on stage with him and John together, and it made the group a little stronger at the time.” Two years later, John went into the hospital for a quadruple by-pass operation, and had another stroke during the procedure. He had to retire after that.

 In 2005 John told me that “the music scene has changed, and because of my hospital stay I haven’t been able to keep up with the changes in music. I have become so far removed from that area that I would not feel beneficial as a producer or a manager. It’s time for other people, who have their finger on the pulse of music, to take over and guide future artists.”

Lori, John's wife: "We'll all miss him. He loved being around his family, his friends and his fans. He was honoured to have gotten a Grammy nomination for Cupid and a Gold Record for Workin' My Way Back to You . He never expected to be included into the R&B Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll HOF, but he's in both as a member of the Spinners. As he said "I never expected to have this happen to me, but you're not getting the awards back!" He never acted like he was anything special. He was just doing his job, and he was happy that it made others happy."

  John:“I would like to thank everybody that has supported me and prayed for my recovery; and I also would like to thank them for being there, when I was at my lowest point. I hope everybody continues to enjoy the blessing of the Almighty. Thanks again for everything.”

© Heikki Suosalo