Edwin Hawkins commemorates “Happy Day” in Chicago
Gospel icon Edwin Hawkins was recently in Chicago where he hosted the 29th Annual Edwin and Walter Hawkins Music and Arts Love Fellowship Conference.
Hawkins is at present celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1969 hit song “Oh Happy Day” that made him one of the most respected artists in the gospel industry.
Edwin Hawkins came from Oakland California and at age 7, he started playing the piano for Hawkins Family that liberated its debut recording in 1957. After that, he began to sing on different churches. In 1967, he founded the Northern California State Choir, with help from Betty Watson. They recorded their first album, “Let Us Go into the House of the Lord” in latter part of 1969.
The record consists of the songs “Come into My Father’s House”, “Joy Joy” and “Oh Happy Day”.
In San Francisco, a radio station began playing “Oh Happy Day” and the song amazingly increased in sales and popularity. Hawkins was appraised with making the urban contemporary gospel sound but he declines it.
“Oh Happy Day” made it to the gospel, R&B and pop music charts and sold seven million records that fetch Hawkins his first Grammy Award.
Hawkins exposed that with the song’s popularity even nowadays, ironically, it was not the choir’s favorite recordings.
Throughout the years, the Hawkins family name has been responsible with making award-winning gospel music. Together with his brother Walter and Tramaine, his former sister-in-law, the Hawkins controls an audience and gathers the industry’s respect.
Edwin Hawkins won many awards that include four Grammys and 10 Grammy nominations, and still, he has the passion for singing.
Edwin Hawkins is acknowledged as a respected voice in the gospel music industry and give out advice for aspiring artists. In the end, he said, “Remain focused, we’re on a course we don’t always know, but we are winners before we start.”
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