Edwin Reuben Hawkins (August 19, 1943 – January 15, 2018) was an American

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

, vocalist, choir master,

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, and

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

. He was one of the originators of the

urban contemporary gospel Urban/contemporary gospel, also known as urban gospel music, urban gospel pop, or just simply urban gospel, is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the gen ...

sound. As the leader of the Edwin Hawkins Singers, he was probably best known for his arrangement of " Oh Happy Day" (1968–69), which was included on the "

Songs of the Century The "Songs of the Century" list is part of an education project by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc. that aims to "promote a better understanding of America's musical an ...

" list. In 1970, the Edwin Hawkins Singers made a second foray into the charts, backing folk singer Melanie on " Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)".

Biography

Hawkins was born in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, on August 19, 1943. At the age of seven, he was already the keyboardist for the family's gospel music band. Together with Betty Watson in May 1967, he founded the Northern California State Youth Choir of the

Church of God in Christ The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) is an international Christian perfection#Holiness Pentecostalism, Holiness–Pentecostal Christian denomination, and a large Pentecostal denomination in the United States. Although an international and multi ...

(COGIC), 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 ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

(on the Century 70 custom label owned by LaMont Branch). The choir used this LP to raise funds to travel to the 1968 Youth Congress for COGIC in Washington, D.C. to compete in the Congress' annual choir competition, representing the Northern California region. The choir finished in second place at the contest, and that was the first of many surprises coming their way. Upon their return to California, their LP found its way into the hands of a KSAN underground rock DJ in San Francisco who happened to pick "Oh Happy Day" to play on his station; the song became an instant hit. The soloists on the album were Elaine Kelly, Margarette Branch, Dorothy Combs Morrison (the original lead singer on "Oh Happy Day"), Tramaine Davis (Hawkins), Reuben Franklin, Donald Cashmere, Betty Watson, and Ruth Lyons. Once "Oh Happy Day" received radio airplay in other parts of the U.S. and the ensemble learned of the song's rising success, they began to contact people in the recording industry who helped them obtain a major contract. The ensemble signed with the newly created Pavilion label (distributed by Buddah), and released a second LP, entitled ''He's A Friend of Mine'', in 1969. But it was "Oh Happy Day" that rocketed to sales of more than a million copies within two months. The song crossed over to the pop

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent t ...

, making U.S. No. 4, UK No. 2, Canada No. 2, No. 2 on the Irish Singles Chart, and No. 1 on the French Singles Charts, the Netherlands and the German Singles Charts in 1969. It became an international success, selling more than 7 million copies worldwide, and Hawkins was awarded his first Grammy for the recording. His arrangement of the song was eventually covered by The Four Seasons on their 1970 album ''Half & Half''. The choir's second LP Top 10 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 charts was the 1970 Melanie single " Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)," on which the label listed the performers as "Melanie with The Edwin Hawkins Singers". The song peaked at No. 6 in the U.S. and Top 10 in several other countries. In 1990, Hawkins, credited as a solo performer, had a number 89 hit on the

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

with "If at First You Don't Succeed (Try Again)". In the 1992 movie ''

Leap of Faith In philosophy, a leap of faith is the act of belief, believing in or accepting something not on the basis of reason. The phrase is commonly associated with Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. Idiomatic usage As an idiom, ''leap of faith'' ca ...

'', Hawkins is the choir master for the gospel songs. The Edwin Hawkins Singers performance of "Oh Happy Day" at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival appears in the 2021 music documentary, '' Summer of Soul''. Hawkins died of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

on January 15, 2018, in his home, in

Pleasanton, California Pleasanton is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the Amador Valley, it is an upscale suburb in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 79,871 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 cens ...

, at the age of 74.

Discography

Albums

*1968: ''Let Us Go into the House of the Lord'' *1969: ''He's A Friend Of Mine'' *1969: ''Peace Is "Blowin' In The Wind"'' *1969: '' Oh Happy Day'' (

Buddah Records Buddah Records (later known as Buddha Records) was an American record label 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 foundin ...

re-issue of previous 1968 LP Let Us Go into the House of the Lord) *1969: ''Jesus, Lover of My Soul'' *1969: ''Hebrew Boys'' *1969: ''Lord Don't Move That Mountain'' *1969: ''Ain't It Like Him'' *1970: ''Live at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam'' *1970: '' Candles in the Rain'' with

Melanie Safka Melanie Anne Safka Schekeryk (February 3, 1947 – January 23, 2024), professionally known as Melanie or Melanie Safka, was an American singer-songwriter. Melanie is widely known for the 1971–72 global hit " Brand New Key", her 1970 version o ...

*1970: ''Pray For Peace'' *1970: ''More Happy Days'' *1971: ''Try the Real Thing'' *1971: ''Children Get Together'' *1971: ''Freeing the Spirit'' with Clarence Rivers and the Hawkins Family *1972: ''I'd Like To Teach the World To Sing'' *1973: ''New World'' *1976: ''Wonderful'' *1977: ''The Comforter'' *1977: ''Edwin Hawkins Presents the Matthews Sisters'' *1979: ''Edwin Hawkins Live at the Symphony'' *1981: ''Edwin Hawkins Live with the Oakland Symphony Orchestra'' *1982: ''Imagine Heaven'' *1982: ''Edwin Hawkins Live with the Oakland Symphony Orchestra & The Love Center Choir Volume II'' *1983: ''Edwin Hawkins presents The Music and Arts Seminar Mass Choir'' *1984: ''Angels Will Be Singing'' with the Music and Arts Seminar Mass Choir *1985: ''Have Mercy'' with the Music and Arts Seminar Mass Choir *1987: ''Give Us Peace'' with the Music and Arts Seminar Mass Choir *1988: ''People in Need'' with Tramaine Hawkins and the Edwin Hawkins Singers to benefit Homeless USA *1988: ''That Name'' with the Music and Arts Seminar Mass Choir *1990: ''Face to Face'' *1991: ''Seminar 91'' *1992: ''Music & Arts Seminar Mass Choir'' recorded live in Los Angeles *1993: ''If You Love Me'' *1994: ''Kings and Kingdoms'' with the Music and Arts Seminar Mass Choir *1995: ''Anything is Possible'' *1998: ''Love Is the Only Way''

Compilations

*1989: ''18 Great Songs'' *1998: ''The Very Best Of''

Awards and honors

Altogether Hawkins has won four

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

s: *1970: Best Soul Gospel Performance – "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 *1977: Best Soul Gospel Performance, Contemporary – "Wonderful!" *1993: Best Gospel Choir or Chorus Album – 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; he attended the formal awards show in 2009.

References

External links

Biography
at gospel.it * * * * * *
The Edwin Hawkins Singers
at 45cat.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkins, Edwin 1943 births 2018 deaths Musicians from Oakland, California American Pentecostals Members of the Church of God in Christ African-American songwriters American gospel singers American rhythm and blues musicians Grammy Award winners Singers from California Songwriters from California Deaths from pancreatic cancer in California 20th-century American singer-songwriters