Hawkins was born in
Oakland, California, on August 19, 1943. His younger siblings included
Walter Hawkins and Lynette Hawkins. At the age of seven, he was already the keyboardist for the family's gospel music band. Together with Betty Watson in May 1967, he founded the Northern California State Youth Choir of the
Church of God in Christ (COGIC), which included almost fifty members. 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 (on the Century 70 custom label owned by LaMont Branch). The choir used this LP to raise funds to travel to the 1968 Youth Congress for COGIC in Washington, D.C. to compete in the Congress' annual choir competition, representing the Northern California region. The choir finished in second place at the contest, and that was the first of many surprises coming their way. Upon their return to California, their LP found its way into the hands of a KSAN underground rock DJ in San Francisco who happened to pick "Oh Happy Day" to play on his station; the song became an instant hit. The soloists on the album were Elaine Kelly, Margarette Branch,
Dorothy Combs Morrison (the original lead singer on "Oh Happy Day"), Canada No. 2, No. 2 on the Irish Singles Chart, and No. 1 on the
French Singles Charts, the Netherlands and the German Singles Charts in 1969. It became an international success, selling more than seven million copies worldwide, and Hawkins was awarded his first
Grammy Award for the recording. His arrangement of the song was eventually covered by
The Four Seasons on their 1970 album
Half & Half. The choir's second LP Top 10 hit on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart 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". In the 1992 movie
Leap of Faith, Hawkins is the choir master for the gospel songs. The Edwin Hawkins Singers performance of "Oh Happy Day" at the 1969
Harlem Cultural Festival appears in the 2021 music documentary,
Summer of Soul. Hawkins died of
pancreatic cancer on January 15, 2018, in his home, in
Pleasanton, California, at the age of 74. ==Discography==