Gospel Choir by Walter Hawkins - Essay Example

Your full Your The 30 May Gospel Choir Paper: Walter Hawkins People need to express themselves somehow that iswhy everyone finds different ways to do it. It does not matter if verbal, visual or audible ways are chosen. Each person is using words, painting or music language to make others feel emotions that should be shared. It cannot be proved but, most probably, music preceded people’s speaking skills. Right now the musical world is full of different styles. Gospel music is an absolutely unique genre among the others.

"The history of Gospel is predated by its African roots, in the traditions of indigenous African people, with songs of praise, worship and testimony to cultural gods and deity” (Gospel Music, 2011). The main peculiarity of it is that Christianity took its effect on the development of such music. Mix of religious messages and African rhythms became known in the 1600s. Walter Hawkins’ name comes first in the line of popular representatives of this genre. May 18, 1949 is a day when Walter Hawkins was born in Oakland, California.

He was one of six children in his family. In his childhood Walter was listening mostly to the songs of Barbara Streisand and Tony Bennett and they affected his own compositions later. Walter made his first steps to the overwhelming career when he was very young because one of his brothers, Edwin Hawkins, was a choir director.. Their first recorded song “Oh Happy Day”became a true breakthrough and predetermined further life of the brothers. Walter Hawkins was only 20 years old when he recorded his first hit.

He wrote the music for it. At the same time, he was studying at Berkley where he got his master’s degree of divinity. During his studentship he recorded “Do Your Best” which got the best response – critics called him a talanted pianist and a singer. In one year after his graduation Walter became a pastor and a founder of the Love Center Church with its own choir. He chose his native town for that. One of his albums was called “Going Up Yonder” and was recorded together with the Love Center Choir in 1975.

Somehow Walter Hawkins managed to combine being an attentive pastor, a successful musician and a loving father. He got two kids from his marriage with Tramaine Hawkins. Even though their marriage was quite short, they remained friends and link-minded people. The album series “Love Alive” were very popular and their success was growing with each next recorded hits. The audience loved that Gospel singer for his counter tenor and it can be said that his voice was so powerful that it made him sound almost like an opera singer.

The role of the Choir in Walter’s performances cannot be neglected because some velvety texture was added to his singing. The worship of God, expressed in such talented manner, made its work and carried the necessary message to his audience . People got silent listening to his songs as they were full of his energy and love that was felt by people. It was not important what languages were understood by his listeners because language of love had always been understood by everyone. Walter Hawkins got many awards for his talent.

Grammy Award (he was nominated nine times), Dove Awards and Stellar Awards are the most prestigious among all of them. Walter was an exceptional man because he was the best in accomplishing each task that he had started. His main contribution was his dedication to people, either to those ones who entered his life for long, or those ones who crossed it for a while. His singing career enriched the whole musical world with jazz improvisation connected to the notes of Latin music somehow united to the latter with hip-hop motives.

We can only guess how much more he could bring into this world if not the pancreatic cancer. It took him away on July 11, 2010. We should appreciate that magnificent heritage he left to learn from. Works Cited Gospel Music. BBC. Religion. 17 Jul 2001. .