Gospel music icon Bishop Walter Hawkins passed away at his home in Ripon, CA today. A singer, songwriter, producer and musician, Hawkins had a 2-year battle with pancreatic cancer.
Hawkins was a contemporary gospel forerunner who rose to prominence as a member of the Edwin Hawkins Singers in the early seventies. The influence the Grammy Award winning Hawkins has had on gospel music history is worthy of volumes. His "Love Alive" album series, consisting of songs recorded from the 70's to the 90's, yielded numerous cuts that will never get old including "Marvelous," "Going Up Yonder", "Changed," "Be Grateful," and "Thank You." Artists from various genres did re-makes of his songs from the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin and American Idol Champ Ruben Studdard to Vicki Winans.
His sleek tenor voice possessed authority and a classical tonal quality second to none as demonstrated on the duet he shared as a featured artist with Donald Lawrence on the popular 2002 Tri-Cities Singers recording of "Seasons" from the "Go Get your Life Back" CD.
The Christian Music Hall of Fame inductee was also the former husband of gospel legend Tramaine Hawkins, with whom he fathered two children Walter "Jamie" Hawkins and Trystan Hawkins.
As the founder and pastor of Love Center Ministries in Oakland Hawkins, who was reared in the Church of God in Christ denomination, also was enamored with ministry. "Early on I thought my ministry and my music were apart from each other. But now I see they work hand-in-hand," he once said according to a press release. "I can go a lot of places with my music that I can’t go as a pastor and vice versa. The purpose of both is getting the message out to people. I’ve had some material blessings and it’s okay to have them, but to be blessed with peace of mind and joy in your life, that’s when you will be truly fulfilled." He was ordained a Bishop in 1992.
His body of work that spans nearly 4 decades, earning him a place among gospel giants.
This past May Hawkins was saluted at his sixty-first birthday celebration.
After surgery for pancreatic cancer in late 2008, the Hawkins Family (Walter, Edwin, Tramaine, and sister, Lynette) staged a successful, multi-city Hawkins Family reunion concert tour. At the time of his death, Hawkins was planning a new “Love Alive” CD concert recording for this fall.
Details about funeral arrangements are forthcoming.
VIDEO
Click here to view a clip of Bishop Walter Hawkins singing "Marvelous."