Edwin Hawkins of Edwin Hawkins Singers fame, RIP

Edwin Hawkins, 'Oh Happy Day' Gospel Star, Dies at 74

 

oh happy day sister act - Bing

 

Any of the Edwin Hawkins Singers' Buddah recordings are essential to seek out for any Gospel Mass Choir fan and are great recordings to demonstrate the sound of a mass choir on a good stereo system.

 

Classic beautiful music.

 

This is a tough one as the board has a prohibition against overt religious expression. Nevertheless, it is worth a good mention. Mr. Hawkins to me defined a more modern type of gospel music that celebrated a great spritituality. This one particular song defines why Easter is so greatly loved in my house. I am sure God has welcomed you Mr. Hawkins lovingly to His house.

 

He is deserving a mention because Lay Down and O Happy Day are defining songs of the late 1960s

 

RIP.

 

RIP not a good day.

 

Oh man, that is sad. It’s made today a bit more bittersweet for me. But I remember “Oh Happy Day” very well. It was one of the few records that I played that my parents didn’t object to. So cool that it became such a big hit. I still have that album. And I never knew that the Edwin Hawkins Singers sang background on the Melanie’s “Lay Down”.

Rest In Peace, Mr Hawkins.

 

RIP

 

Oh Crappy Day...

 

For us the listener yes, perhaps. For Edwin it is a joyful day as his earthly journey has ended and his eternal journey has begun.

 

RIP Edwin hawkins.

 

RIP Edwin Hawkins, another amazing artist, terrible news.

 

Rest In Peace, Edwin. Lay Down is one of the greatest songs in the annals of recorded music because of his groups contribution.

 

The CD to get of the original album that Oh Happy Day came from:

or

The Encore Collection/Priceless Collection issue (same disc) has all of the tracks reshuffled, but with Precious Memories and We Shall Be Free as bonus tracks.

The album was first released as "Let Us Go Into The House of The Lord"


There are LP reissues using the "Oh Happy Day" album as well and these are listed at Discogs: The Edwin Hawkins Singers* - Let Us Go Into The House Of The Lord

If you come across this compilation CD, this is a great start:


The CDs mentioned are not that common in the used market anymore (they've been out of print for quite a while) but I am lucky to have scored them inexpensively and iTunes has both of these available as downloads.

 

RIP
The original release...


...is ingrained in my subconscious.

 

The Buddah CD pressing of the original album is inexpensive in the used market:
https://www.amazon.com/Happy-Day-Edwin-Singers-Hawkins/dp/B000003C9E

The CD I have: https://www.amazon.com/Oh-Happy-Day-Edwin-Hawkins/dp/B000001U24/

 

Anyone here want to snatch this copy of the Buddah/Essex pressing? Oh Happy Day, Edwin Hawkins Singers CD 1990 Heard Voice Jesus, House Of The Lord | eBay

 

The BMG Encore Collection reissue on eBay: Oh Happy Day The Edwin Hawkins Singers THE ENCORE COLLECTION(CD, Nov-1997, 755174451324 | eBay

 

Prayers with his family and Mr. Hawkins is indeed home with God. Oh Happy Day is such an iconic song; my first exposure to it was the late '60s country/gospel version that the Statlers did while on Columbia. Lew DeWitt and Harold Reid traded lead vocals on that one.

Thanks to Brad to pointing to where we can find Mr. Hawkins' recorded legacy.

 

You're welcome

 

And how nice it was that radio back then wasn't so fragmented/compartmentalized that we could hear both songs on the same station.

 

RIP

 

In fact, the CDs I recommended are those in my collection as proven by my Facebook post:
Bradley Olson