Born: 18 August 1943
Died: 15 January 2018 (aged 74)
Real name: Edwin Reuben Hawkins
As the name suggests, The Edwin Hawkins Singers were led by Edwin Hawkins (hence his birthdate etc being noted above). Hawkins was born in a place called Oakland in California which is part of the greater San Francisco area. When he was in his mid 20’s he formed the Northern California State Youth Choir of the Church Of God in Christ with Betty Watson. The choir had nearly 50 members and released an album to raise funds to go and compete in a national Choir competition in Washington DC. They would end up finishing second in that competition. They had more good news soon afterwards when a radio DJ picked up on the track ‘Oh Happy Day’ on their album and this would lead to the choir getting a record deal and releasing material as the Edwin Hawkins Singers. They would see 2 US hot 100 hits, firstly with ‘Oh Happy Day’ which went to number 4 and then to number 6 with ‘Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)’ where they were given a credit on the single backing Melanie. ‘Oh Happy Day’ would peak at 2 for 2 weeks in the UK, kept off the top spot by The Beatles’ ‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko’.
| Date of entry | Song | Peak (weeks at 1) | Weeks |
| 01-Aug-1969 | Oh Happy Day | 13 | 4 |
| Total hits | 1 | ||
| Total weeks | 4 |
| Biggest climber awards | 0 |
| Star rater climbs | 0 |
| Biggest fallers | 0 |
| Weeks with oldest in the charts | 0 |
| Longest run in the charts (weeks) | 4 |
| Weeks with more than 1 in the charts | 0 |
| Biggest gap between hits (weeks) | 0 |
| Top 30 points ranking | =1096 |
| Top 20 points ranking | =1057 |
| Top 30 points | 61 |
| Top 20 points | 21 |
SA Singles Charts 