In the 1992 movie Leap of Faith, Hawkins was the choir master for the gospel songs. Their second Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 charts was the 1970 Melanie single “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain),” on which the label listed the performers as Melanie with The Edwin Hawkins Singers. Hawkins’ arrangement of the song was eventually covered by The Four Seasons on their 1970 album Half & Half. It then became an international success, selling more than 7 million copies worldwide, and Hawkins was awarded his first Grammy for it. It crossed over to the pop charts making U.S. Featuring the lead vocal of Dorothy Combs Morrison, the subsequently released single (on the newly created Pavilion label distributed by Buddah) rocketed to sales of over a million copies within two months. When radio stations of the San Francisco Bay area started playing “Oh Happy Day”, it became very popular. (The soloists in the album were Elaine Kelly, Margarette Branch, Dorothy Combs Morrison, Tramaine Davis, Reuben Franklin, Donald Cashmere, Betty Watson, and Ruth Lyons.) “Oh Happy Day” was just one of the eight songs on the album. This ensemble recorded its first album Let Us Go into the House of the Lord at the Ephesian Church of God in Christ in Berkeley, California privately (on the Century 70 custom label), hoping to sell 500 copies. Together with Betty Watson, he was the co-founder of the Northern California State Youth Choir of the Church of God in Christ, which included almost fifty members.
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, producerĪssociated acts Walter Hawkins, Tramaine Hawkins, Andrae CrouchĪt the age of seven Hawkins was already the keyboardist to accompany the family’s gospel choir.
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