His early Ric-Tic hit 'Stop Her on Sight (S.O.S.)', was reissued in Britain (with 'Headline News' as its B-side) in 1968, and it performed better than the original release on the UK Chart, surpassing the original number 35 and peaking at number 11. Many of Starr's Ric-Tic songs (subsequently owned by Motown) like 'Back Street' and 'Headline News' became favored northern soul classics. It was when Motown's Berry Gordy became frustrated with smaller labels like Ric-Tic stealing some of the success of his company that he bought out the label. It peaked at number 6 in both the Hot 100 and R&B Charts in 1969. At Motown he recorded a string of singles before enjoying international success with 'Twenty-Five Miles', which he co-wrote with producers Johnny Bristol and Harvey Fuqua. While at Ric-Tic, he wrote the song, 'Oh, How Happy', a number 12 Billboard Hot 100 hit in 1966 for The Shades of Blue (he would go on to release a version of the song with Blinky in 1969) and sang lead for the Holidays on their number 12 R&B hit, 'I'll Love You Forever'. Other early hits included 'Headline News', 'Back Street', and 'Stop Her on Sight (S.O.S.)'. The song that launched his career was 'Agent Double-O-Soul' (1965), a reference to the James Bond films, already popular at the time. Hatcher, adopted the name Edwin Starr at the suggestion of Doggett's manager Don Briggs, and made his solo recording debut in 1965 for the Detroit record company Ric-Tic. However after just one single, he was called up for military service in the United States Army for three years, where he was posted to Europe, following the end of his service he decided to make music his career, and joined the musical group of Bill Doggett. In 1957, Hatcher formed a doo-wop group, the Future Tones, and began his singing career.

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