Artist:The Edwin Hawkins Singers f/Dorothy Combs MorrisonSong:Oh Happy Day
Album:Oh Happy Day! The Best Of The Edwin Hawkins Singers
Occasionally gospel music has crossed over to the mainstream charts. But this 1969 top five hit was a huge surprise at the time and laid the foundation for the contemporary gospel that is popular today. And the Hawkins family are legends of gospel especially in their hometown of Oakland. Edwin Hawkins was born Aug. 18, 1943 in Oakland and at age seven he was already playing keyboards in the family choir. In 1967 he started the Northern California State Youth Choir with Betty Watson and they recorded an album in 1968. Oh Happy Day started getting airplay on San Francisco radio stations and it was picked up for national distribution by Buddah Records. It reached #4 on the pop singles chart in 1969. Hawkins wrote the song and arranged it with his brother Walter Hawkins. Dorothy Combs Morrison delivers a great lead vocal. She left the Hawkins singers in 1970 and continues to sing in Oakland churches today. Oh Happy Day got a big boost when it turned up in the film Sister Act. The song is now a standard. Edwin Hawkins still records and performs today frequently with his brother Walter Hawkins and sister Lynette Hawkins-Stephens. This Sony BMG budget comp has their Buddah recordings but you should look into some recent Hawkins family recordings too. Here's Edwin Hawkins & Lynette Hawkins-Stephens performing Oh Happy Day 1987.
No comments:
Post a Comment