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Overview

The intensity and enthusiasm accompanying a well-executed gospel song have all the trappings of engaging music that arrests the listener's attention. Its global exportation to other parts of the world or even just across state lines attests to this fact. Furthermore, each time someone outside of the African American community learns to perform gospel music, that contributes to the globalization of African American music in general. This lesson will expand on the development and globalization of gospel music.

Be ready to:

Name the essential musicians and describe the three watershed moments that were important to the globalization of gospel music.

Name and write about countries outside of the United States where gospel music has taken a foothold.

Articulate the importance of Kurtis Blow to the dissemination and expansion of rap and hip-hop music into the church's liturgy.

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Edwin Hawkins and "Oh, Happy Day" (Continued)

The legacy of the Edwin Hawkins Singers and their new contemporary gospel sound found in " Oh Happy Day♫" can be summed up in the essay written by Otis Alexander:

While the national exposure clearly helped, "Oh Happy Day" began to get airplay not only on local religious radio but on secular stations as dee jays embraced this 18th-century Protestant hymn rearranged by Hawkins and Watson to appeal to a contemporary audience. The stations played the song three or four times a day in their otherwise pop and R & B rotations. With this exposure, "Oh Happy Day" became the most successful gospel hit of all time, selling more than seven million units worldwide. Its remarkable international appeal was clearly part of that success. While the song rose to No. 4 on the U.S. Pop Chart, it reached No. 1 on the German, French, and Swiss Singles Charts and No. 2 on the Canadian, United Kingdom, and Irish Singles Charts. Eventually, the choir toured throughout Europe and the United States, even appearing for five weeks at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

(Alexander 2021, n.p.)

The Edwin Hawkins Singers continued recording albums, mainly on Gospel/Christian labels like Birthright and Myrrh and in 1972 they were awarded a second Grammy for " Every Man Wants to Be Free♫," followed by a third Grammy in 1980 for the song "Wonderful."

"(He's) Wonderful" (1976) Edwin Hawkins Singers [ 00:00-00:00 ]

In 1982 the Edwin Hawkins Music and Arts Seminar was founded, and a fourth Grammy was awarded in 1983 for the song " If You Love Me♫." In 2007, Edwin Hawkins was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame.

The sound of " Oh Happy Day♫ " paved the way for such artists as Andrae Crouch SIDE NOTEAndrae Crouch was an American gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, record producer, and pastor who impacted both Black and White audiences. (" Take Me Back♫," and " Soon and Very Soon♫") and Danniebelle Hall SIDE NOTEDanniebelle Hall was a singer, songwriter, and pianist who loved to share the Gospel of Christ through her song stylings. (" Ordinary People♫" and " Let Me Have a Dream♫"). Others continued to produce a modern contemporary gospel sound that impacted a new generation of songwriters and listeners. What followed later would be called urban contemporary gospel.

Andrae Crouch (1942-2015)

Danniebelle Hall (1938-2000)

Edwin Hawkins "Oh Happy Day"

The plantation songs known as "Spirituals" are the spontaneous outburst of intense religious fervor. They breathe a child-like faith in a personal Father, and glow with the hope that the children of bondage will ultimately pass out of the wilderness of slavery into the land of freedom.

Thomas A. Dorsey

I was always a person who could not be stepped on easily. When I realized how hard people were fighting the gospel idea, I was determined to carry the banner.