Edwin Hawkins
Encyclopedia
Edwin Hawkins is a Grammy Award
-winning American
gospel
and R&B
musician
, pianist
, choir master, composer and arranger. He is one of the originators of the urban contemporary gospel
sound. He (and the Edwin Hawkins Singers) are best known for his arrangement of "Oh Happy Day
" (1968–69), which was included on the Songs of the Century
list. The Edwin Hawkins Singers made a second foray into the charts a year later, backing
folk singer Melanie
on "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)
".
At the age of seven Hawkins was already the keyboardist
to accompany the family's gospel choir
. Together with Betty Watson, he was the co-founder of the Northern California State Youth Choir of the Church of God in Christ
, which included almost fifty members. This ensemble recorded its first album Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord at the Ephesian Church of God in Christ in Berkeley, California
, hoping to sell 500 copies. "Oh Happy Day" was just one of the eight songs on the album.
When radio station
s of the San Francisco Bay
area started playing "Oh Happy Day", it became very popular. Featuring the lead vocal of Dorothy Combs Morrison
, the subsequently released single
rocketed to sales of over a million copies within two months. It crossed over to the pop
charts
making U.S.
#4 and UK
#2 and #1 in the German Singles Charts in 1969. It then became an international success, selling more than 7 million copies worldwide, and Hawkins was awarded his first Grammy for it. Hawkins' arrangement of the song was eventually covered by The Four Seasons
on their 1970 album
Half & Half
.
Altogether Hawkins has won four Grammy Award
s:
In 2007, Hawkins was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame and attended the formal awards show in 2009.
Paul Anka
's duet partner Odia Coates
was also a member of the Edwin Hawkins Singers.
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-winning American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
and R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, choir master, composer and arranger. He is one of the originators of the urban contemporary gospel
Urban contemporary gospel
Traditional black gospel is music that is written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music...
sound. He (and the Edwin Hawkins Singers) are best known for his arrangement of "Oh Happy Day
Oh Happy Day
"Oh Happy Day" is a 1967 gospel music arrangement of an 18th century hymn. Recorded by the Edwin Hawkins Singers, it became an international hit in 1969, reaching US #4 and UK #2 on the pop charts...
" (1968–69), which was included on the Songs of the Century
Songs of the Century
The "Songs of the Century" list is part of an education project by the Recording Industry Association of America , the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc. that aims to "promote a better understanding of America’s musical and cultural heritage" in American schools...
list. The Edwin Hawkins Singers made a second foray into the charts a year later, backing
Backing vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
folk singer Melanie
Melanie Safka
Melanie Anne Safka-Schekeryk is an American singer-songwriter. Known professionally as simply Melanie, she is best known for her hits "Brand New Key", "Ruby Tuesday" and "Lay Down ".-Early career:...
on "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)
Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)
"Lay Down " was the second single from Melanie's 1970 album Candles in the Rain. The song proved to be her breakthrough hit in the United States, climbing to #6 on the U.S. Billboard charts and #3 on the U.S...
".
At the age of seven Hawkins was already the keyboardist
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
to accompany the family's gospel choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
. Together with Betty Watson, he was the co-founder of the Northern California State Youth Choir of the Church of God in Christ
Church of God in Christ
The Church of God in Christ is a Pentecostal Holiness Christian denomination with a predominantly African-American membership. With nearly five million members in the United States and 12,000 congregations, it is the largest Pentecostal church and the fifth largest Christian church in the U.S....
, which included almost fifty members. This ensemble recorded its first album Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord at the Ephesian Church of God in Christ in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, hoping to sell 500 copies. "Oh Happy Day" was just one of the eight songs on the album.
When radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
s of the San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
area started playing "Oh Happy Day", it became very popular. Featuring the lead vocal of Dorothy Combs Morrison
Dorothy Combs Morrison
Dorothy Combs Morrison in an American gospel music singer. She was born in Longview, Texas, on May 8, 1945. The seventh child of ten, Dorothy showed early signs of her talents. She began singing at the age of 13 and released her first single "I Am Free", while singing with her siblings as 'The...
, the subsequently released single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
rocketed to sales of over a million copies within two months. It crossed over to the pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
charts
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
making U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
#4 and UK
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
#2 and #1 in the German Singles Charts in 1969. It then became an international success, selling more than 7 million copies worldwide, and Hawkins was awarded his first Grammy for it. Hawkins' arrangement of the song was eventually covered by The Four Seasons
The Four Seasons (group)
The Four Seasons are an American rock and pop band who became internationally successful in the mid-1960s. The Vocal Group Hall of Fame has stated that the group was the most popular rock band before The Beatles...
on their 1970 album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
Half & Half
Half & Half
Half & Half is an American sitcom that aired on UPN from September 23, 2002, to May 15, 2006. The show focuses on the lives of two paternal half-sisters in their twenties who were estranged throughout their childhood, and are finally developing a close relationship...
.
Altogether Hawkins has won four Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s:
- 1970: Best Soul Gospel PerformanceGrammy Award for Best Soul Gospel PerformanceThe Grammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performance was awarded from 1969 to 1977. In 1978 the award was divided into two new awards, the Grammy Awards for Grammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performance, Traditional and Grammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performance, Contemporary.Years reflect the year...
— "Oh Happy Day", performed by the Edwin Hawkins Singers; - 1971: Best Soul Gospel Performance — "Every Man Wants to Be Free", performed by the Edwin Hawkins Singers;
- 1972: On April 30, 1972, on scene of Oude Rai in Amsterdam, Edwin Hawkins Singers sing " Oh happy day " accompanied with a group of French children " The POPPYS " in front of 5000 persons;
- 1978: Best Soul Gospel Performance, ContemporaryGrammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performance, ContemporaryThe Grammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performance, Contemporary was awarded from 1978 to 1983. A similar award, the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album has been awarded since 1991....
— "Wonderful!"; - 1993: Best Gospel Choir or Chorus AlbumGrammy Award for Best Gospel Choir or Chorus AlbumThe Grammy Award for Best Gospel Choir or Chorus Album has been awarded since 1991. From 1991 to 1997 it was awarded as Best Gospel Album by a Choir or Chorus....
— choir director on Edwin Hawkins Music & Arts Seminar Mass Choir – Recorded Live in Los Angeles, performed by the Music & Arts Seminar Mass Choir.
In 2007, Hawkins was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame and attended the formal awards show in 2009.
Paul Anka
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...
's duet partner Odia Coates
Odia Coates
Odia Coates was an American singer, best known for her work with Canadian singer-songwriter Paul Anka.-Early life:...
was also a member of the Edwin Hawkins Singers.
Discography
- Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord (1968)
- He's A Friend Of Mine (1969)
- Oh Happy Day (1969) (Buddah RecordsBuddah RecordsBuddah Records was founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's founding...
re-issue of previous 1968 LP) - Jesus, Lover Of My Soul (1969)
- Hebrew Boys (1969)
- Lord Don't Move That Mountain (1969)
- Ain't It Like Him (1969)
- Live at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (1970)
- Lay Down (Candles In The Rain) with Melanie SafkaMelanie SafkaMelanie Anne Safka-Schekeryk is an American singer-songwriter. Known professionally as simply Melanie, she is best known for her hits "Brand New Key", "Ruby Tuesday" and "Lay Down ".-Early career:...
(1970) - Pray For Peace (1970)
- More Happy Days (1971)
- Try the Real Thing with Melanie SafkaMelanie SafkaMelanie Anne Safka-Schekeryk is an American singer-songwriter. Known professionally as simply Melanie, she is best known for her hits "Brand New Key", "Ruby Tuesday" and "Lay Down ".-Early career:...
(1971) - Peace Is Blowin' In The Wind (1972)
- Children Get Together (1972)
- I'd Like To Teach the World To Sing (1973)
- New World (1974)
- Edwin Hawkins Presents the Matthews Sisters (1975)
- Wonderful (1976)
- The Comforter (1977)
- Edwin Hawkins Live at the Symphony (1979)
- Imagine Heaven (1982)
- Edwin Hawkins presents The Music and Arts Seminar Mass Choir (1983)
- Angels Will Be Singing with the Music and Arts Seminar Mass Choir (1984)
- Have Mercy with the Music and Arts Seminar Mass Choir (1985)
- Give Us Peace with the Music and Arts Seminar Mass Choir (1987)
- That Name with the Music and Arts Seminar Mass Choir (1988)
- 18 Great Songs (1989)
- Face to Face (1990)
- Love Is the Only Way (1998)
External links
- Edwin Hawkins at MySpace.com
- Biography at gospel.it