Multi-talented multi-Grammy award winner Edwin Hawkins remains in the forefront of Gospel music by continually transforming Gospel music and attracting new audiences. He is the man who recorded the biggest gospel hit record of all time in 1969, “Oh Happy Day.” He and his brother Bishop Walter Hawkins are the founders of the Edwin Hawkins & Walter Hawkins Music and Arts Love Fellowship Conference, now in its Thirty-Third year.
The Music and Arts Love Fellowship Conference is an annual convention that offers workshops geared toward music and arts. There are classes on Song Writing, Keyboard Techniques, Gospel Music Ministry, Choir Decorum, Fashion Design, the Business of Gospel Music, Vocal Techniques, Dance and Drama. The conference culminates the week long activities with a Mass Choir live recording.
Edwin explained how it all started. “In my travels, I meet many talented young folks whose only outlet is in the church. There needed to be ways to help them further develop their skills and abilities, to the glory of God. I decided to help them find themselves in the arts. I felt it incumbent upon me to marshal the finest artists and musicians, who are able to teach this diverse perspective of music and arts. Happily, it has resulted in a nation and international interest in music and arts.”
Edwin Hawkins grew up in a musical family, and with the encouragement of his parents Mamie and Dan Lee Hawkins, he pursue his musical passion. He began singing in youth choirs at a very early age, and discovered he had a God-given ability to play the piano at the age of five years old. When he was seven years old, he began playing full time for the Hawkins family group and they released their first recording in 1957. His musical talents had him singing at several churches, and, on a weekly Sunday night radio broadcast before he was sixteen years old.
To read more of the biography, click here.
The Music and Arts Love Fellowship Conference is an annual convention that offers workshops geared toward music and arts. There are classes on Song Writing, Keyboard Techniques, Gospel Music Ministry, Choir Decorum, Fashion Design, the Business of Gospel Music, Vocal Techniques, Dance and Drama. The conference culminates the week long activities with a Mass Choir live recording.
Edwin explained how it all started. “In my travels, I meet many talented young folks whose only outlet is in the church. There needed to be ways to help them further develop their skills and abilities, to the glory of God. I decided to help them find themselves in the arts. I felt it incumbent upon me to marshal the finest artists and musicians, who are able to teach this diverse perspective of music and arts. Happily, it has resulted in a nation and international interest in music and arts.”
Edwin Hawkins grew up in a musical family, and with the encouragement of his parents Mamie and Dan Lee Hawkins, he pursue his musical passion. He began singing in youth choirs at a very early age, and discovered he had a God-given ability to play the piano at the age of five years old. When he was seven years old, he began playing full time for the Hawkins family group and they released their first recording in 1957. His musical talents had him singing at several churches, and, on a weekly Sunday night radio broadcast before he was sixteen years old.
To read more of the biography, click here.