The legacy of 'Oh Happy Day,' Oakland’s most popular and most controversial gospel song By Dan Gentile , Senior Culture Editor Updated July 16, 2021 3:47 p.m.

Edwin Hawkins isn't quite sure what he'd be doing today if his Latin-soul arrangement of the 18th century Protestant hymn "Oh Happy Day" hadn't become a fluke international hit in 1969, selling 7 ...

His crowning achievement was bringing his arrangement of "Oh Happy Day," originally an 18th Century hymn, to wide audiences. The song debuted 50 years ago in 1968 and became the first gospel song ...

Edwin Hawkins' "Oh Happy Day" was an accidental hit. The song, a gospel-style rework of an 18th century hymn, starts with a jazzy drum beat and a kind of blues pop piano groove.

The song is “Oh Happy Day,” a traditional gospel number performed by a 46-piece ensemble called the Northern California State Youth Choir as part of an album, Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord.

Entire generations of gospel musicians grew up loving “Oh Happy Day,” his R&B-drenched arrangement of an old hymn, often themselves trying to capture that too-often elusive combination of ...

He blended gospel hymns with a secular sound and "Oh Happy Day" was the first gospel song to reach the top 40 charts. It reached the top 10 and also became an international hit in 1969.

But radio stations in the San Francisco Bay Area began playing one of the album's eight tracks, “Oh Happy Day,” an 18th century hymn arranged by Hawkins in call-and-response style.

NEW YORK (AP) — Edwin Hawkins, the gospel star best known for the crossover hit “Oh Happy Day” and as a major force for contemporary inspirational music, has died at age 74.

Gospel star Edwin Hawkins, a Grammy-winning musician known for the 1969 hit “Oh Happy Day,” died Monday at his home in Pleasanton, California, the New York Times reported. He was 74. Hawkins ...