I share this here only because one of the most unusual hitmakers of the 60s has died.
 
Edwin Hawkins, the front man on a group known as the Edwin Hawkins Singers, succumbed to pancreatic cancer. But his one big – and very unlikely hit – certainly survives him.
 
The group, which recorded only religious records, would almost certainly have never made it onto the Top 40 charts. Yet their classic, “Oh Happy Day” – which was recorded in his church on a cheap two-track tape recorder – became a sensation in 1969 when a disc jockey on a San Francisco radio station decided to play it. (That was back in the days when DJs could do that kind of thing.)
 
The song, which features an amazing vocal by a woman named Dorothy Morrison, was never supposed to be released, yet went on to become perhaps the most successful crossover gospel hit in music history, reaching #4 on Billboard. It was also featured in the Whoopi Goldberg movie "Sister Act."
 
My favourite memory of the song happened one weekend on the NBC network show “Monitor,” which for some reason on that day was being hosted by none other than Don Imus. As the lyrics came on about “when Jesus washed my sins away,” Imus turned on his mic and asked across the country, “What the hell are we playing?”
 
Hawkins was 74.

Edwin Hawkins, Known for the Hit ‘Oh Happy Day,’ Is Dead at 74