Jerome Bell, pastor of the Maryland Family Christian Center in Capitol Heights, was the concert promoter. It features a number of hits still climbing the charts like "I'm So Thankful" and "Marvelous." God said make a joyful noise," Walter Hawkins admonished a sound technician just before his group launched into a high-octane package of gospel from its "Love Alive V: 25th Anniversary Reunion" album. The Hawkins family, still based in Oakland, has embarked on a national 25th anniversary tour to commemorate the success of "Oh Happy Day." On July 24, family members parked their big bus outside National Church of God in Oxon Hill, walked into the pulpit and captivated more than 1,300 people with three decades of music. These musical pied pipers, who gave new form to gospel music, prompted choirs across the country to toss their hymn books, embrace the new style and become a bigger draw on Sunday morning than the preacher. And overnight, a musical family from an Oakland church called the "Love Center" became stars. The album featured young people with bell bottoms and big Afros and a soulful hymn called "Oh Happy Day."įrom northern California down to north Florida, "Oh Happy Day" became a hit to the tune of 7 million copies sold. The group was called the Edwin Hawkins Singers. Every Sunday, things were predictable: three songs, the preacher's thundering sermon, the closing hymn.īut then one day, my mother, Barbara Rodgers, brought home a new record album from Gussie's Record Shop in Pensacola, Fla. When I was 9, exactly three decades ago, my mother directed a church choir that rarely ventured from hymns, anthems or Negro spirituals.
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