Edwin Hawkins of Edwin Hawkins Singers fame, RIP

I know O, Happy Day is historic in a way, but Edwin Hawkins has a lot of good albums. I pick them up whenever I see them. I've yet to be disappointed. I love the whole Hawkins family.

 

Yes he does have a lot of good albums and the whole family is indeed talented. Sony or Real Gone Music should bring these albums back in print.

 

Loving the music doesn't necessarily mean you're proscyletizing. I love Handel's Messiah, but I'm not a Christian.

I love great gospel music. There's a great gospel concert film with a soundtrack album called "Gospel". Edwin Hawkins is on it.

 

You are right.

 

Thanks for that. I'm curious, where and when did you see this film? I've been looking and, although I find the title, it seems to be long out of print.

EDIT: I found it on amazon. Different packaging confused me.

 

This.

RIP, Mr. Hawkins.

 

While I'd hardly describe myself as a believer — far from it — tracks like "To My Father's House" and a roof-raising cover of "Blowin' in the Wind" almost made me one!

 

the real inspiration for My Sweet Lord. RIP

 

RIP Edwin. Every time I listen to your beautiful "Oh Happy Day" I get chills. Loved it then - Love it even more now.

 

RIP.

 

For a true believer, this is the most joyous occasion!

 

Exactly right.

 

2 highlights from the Best of compilation.

 

This is proof that great music knows no boundaries and why just a V/A comp with Oh Happy Day on it or the 45rpm single are NOT enough Edwin Hawkins Singers for anybody.

 

Because he sang the word of God and presented it to the masses in his unique way.

 

http://americansongwriter.com/2013/08/melanie-lay-down-candles-in-the-rain/?v=7516fd43adaa
Melanie got some assistance on the song from the Edwin Hawkins Singers, who had their own gospel hit with their arrangement of “Oh Happy Day” two years earlier. Melanie had to beg the group to join her on the song, since they were reluctant to perform any song that didn’t make specific mention of the Lord. “But he’s in there,” she told them in the studio, and she must have been convincing. “By the time I finished singing,” Safka says, “they were joining me in the chorus.”

 

BTW, the original album with his cover of Blowin' In The Wind and also Pray For Peace on it is called "Peace Is Blowin' In The Wind" which is primarily a Christmas album

The Edwin Hawkins Singers* - Peace Is "Blowin' In The Wind"

This can be downloaded from many download retailers and is on CD-R on Amazon as "The Edwin Hawkins Singers Christmas"