Gospel Greats Gather To Pay Tribute To Late Edwin Hawkins
FREMONT (KPIX 5) -- Singers from around the country came together in the Bay Area Tuesday evening to pay homage to the late Oakland gospel giant Edwin Hawkins.
It is the first night of a two-night "Celebration of Life" being held at Harbor Light Church in Fremont.
Grammy-Award winning Gospel Artist, Donald Lawrence served as the musical director for both evenings, accompanied by longtime Hawkins band leader Derrick Hall.
An 80-voice combined choir covered the Edwin Hawkins catalog of music, highlighting his 50+ years of music. The celebration also featured a special reunion of the Original Edwin Hawkins Singers performing onstage together.
The luminaries performing and offering reflections on Hawkins and his legacy over the course of the two nights include Donnie McClurkin, Marvin Winans, Bebe Winans, Beverly Crawford, Anita Wilson, LaShun Pace, Ted Winn, Melonie Daniels-Walker, Chrystal Rucker, BSlade, Chrystal Rucker, Minister Carole King, Tibari and Bishop Yvette Flunder.
Along with Andrae Crouch, James Cleveland and a handful of others, Hawkins was credited as a founder of modern gospel music.
Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke and numerous other singers had become mainstream stars by adapting gospel sounds to pop lyrics. Hawkins stood out for enjoying commercial success while still performing music that openly celebrated religious faith.
Hawkins, who co-founded the Northern California State Youth Choir at Ephesian Church of God in Christ in Berkeley, first recorded "Oh Happy Day" as part of an 8-song, self-produced album to help finance his group's trip to a music competition. Bay Area radio stations began playing the song -- a soulful, call-and-response arrangement of an 18th century hymn -- and it became a local music phenomenon.
Hawkins died at his Pleasanton home last month after a battle with cancer. He was 74 years old.
Shortly after his death, "Oh Happy Day" charted at #1 on Billboard Magazine's Gospel Digital Song Sales chart for the week ending January 27, 2018. The classic song had a 999% sales increase following worldwide news coverage of Hawkins' and it also amassed over 173,000 streams during the same period.
