Edwards was born in 1949 in Chiswick, England, and grew up in Kensal Rise to age 11, after which the family moved to Ashford, Middlesex.
Edwards career began in the sixties with mod bands "The Cult" (1963–64); "The Neat Change", perhaps the first Skinhead band, formed in 1966;[2][3] "The Washington Flyers",[4] "Stumpy",[4] "Edwards & Guest";[5] and "English Rose", was formed with Lynton Guest of Love Affair (1968–72) whose music (the song "Yesterdays Hero") was featured in the film "Groupie girl" (also known as "I am a Groupie").
[6] "The Neat Change" had a strong London Mod/skinhead following in the late mid/late 1960s and their one recorded song "I lied to Auntie May" was released on the Decca label,[3] and is considered a classic of the genre.
The Neat Change played at the Marque Club in London on numerous occasions, gaining as much praise as the Small Faces and The Who.
[3] During the early 1970s, Edwards became an A+R man at Dawn records and signed the huge hit "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas.
He also helped Ian Dury get discovered while working with Lynton Guest and Seve Holly (drummer with Paul McCartney's Wings) in both A+R and making music himself.
Edwards recorded a version of The Jam song In the City which included a lyric change which was approved by Paul Weller.
The band narrowly missed a "Top of the Pops" performance at the BBC due to "Gallup" investigating chart sales/Rigging and as a result it was maintained by the singer that sales were not fairly took into account - and so an appearance was denied.