Walter Hawkins- Testify

Edwin Hawkins, accredited by many as being the father of the contemporary gospel movement, continues to invigorate the gospel music community with new compositions and ideas years after the stunning gospel outbreak of “Oh, Happy Day” in 1969. The song launched Edwin Hawkins into international prominence and allowed him to condense his group down to a touring group later christened as the Edwin Hawkins Singers. Since his heyday on the Buddah music label, he expanded his franchise with the Music and Arts Seminar in 1982 and yielded a number of best-selling albums including 1985′s Angels Will Be Singing and 1987′s Give Us Peace. The ‘90s rolled around and the Music and Arts Seminar remained atop as one of the lively annual conventions for gospel music. Albums featuring the talents of Lawrence Matthews, LaShun Pace, Kevin Bond, Richard Smallwood and the Hawkins Family created a world of excitement for the yearly event and matched the rich tradition of the Hawkins’ legacy. Of course as the years begin to pile up, years of album releases from the convention began to slim down and so has the geographical rotation of the convention. Since the 90′s releases on the defunct Harmony record label, Edwin Hawkins now shares the convention’s credits with his successful brother Walter and has rechristened the yearly event as the Music & Arts Love Fellowship Conference.

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