![]() It started a new trend in Gospel music, and, was in fact the pioneering effort of what we now call Contemporary Gospel.Įdwin Hawkins has recorded dozens of albums and has been nominated for ten Grammy Awards over a career that has spanned four decades. ![]() Eventually, “Oh Happy Day” would sell an incredible seven million copies, and gained Edwin Hawkins a Grammy Award in 1970. ![]() This led to the song finding its way on the Pop charts. It gained further public appeal when an underground FM station in San Francisco began to play it. The song, which was helped by a national promotional campaign, something unusual for Gospel music in those days, crossed from Gospel to the R&B charts. On the album, there was an outstanding song entitled “Oh Happy Day” that attracted considerable attention from broadcasters and retailers alike. However, this album had more of an R&B sound, and was different from anything previously recorded in Gospel. The style of Gospel music at that time, featured traditional sounding choirs and vocalists. Watson recorded “Let Us Go Into The House Of The Lord.” When this album was released later that year, there was something distinctly different about it. In 1967, with the help of Betty Watson, he started the Northern California State Youth Choir, and in 1968, Edwin and Ms. His musical talents had him singing at several churches, and, on a weekly Sunday night radio broadcast before he was sixteen years old. When he was seven years old, he began playing full time for the Hawkins family group and they released their first recording in 1957. He began singing in youth choirs at a very early age, and discovered he had a God-given ability to play the piano at the age of five years old. Happily, it has resulted in a nation and international interest in music and arts.”Įdwin Hawkins grew up in a musical family, and with the encouragement of his parents Mamie and Dan Lee Hawkins, he pursue his musical passion. I felt it incumbent upon me to marshal the finest artists and musicians, who are able to teach this diverse perspective of music and arts. I decided to help them find themselves in the arts. There needed to be ways to help them further develop their skills and abilities, to the glory of God. “In my travels, I meet many talented young folks whose only outlet is in the church. The conference culminates the week long activities with a Mass Choir live recording.Įdwin explained how it all started. There are classes on Song Writing, Keyboard Techniques, Gospel Music Ministry, Choir Decorum, Fashion Design, the Business of Gospel Music, Vocal Techniques, Dance and Drama. The Music and Arts Love Fellowship Conference is an annual convention that offers workshops geared toward music and arts. He is the man who recorded the biggest gospel hit record of all time in 1969, “Oh Happy Day.” He and his brother Bishop Walter Hawkins are the founders of the Edwin Hawkins & Walter Hawkins Music and Arts Love Fellowship Conference, now in its Thirty-Third year. Multi-talented multi-Grammy award winner Edwin Hawkins remains in the forefront of Gospel music by continually transforming Gospel music and attracting new audiences.
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