Gospel singer Walter Hawkins dies at 61

Walter Hawkins, a Grammy Award-winning singer, preacher and composer whose popular recordings and performances made him one of contemporary gospel music's most prominent figures, died Sunday of pancreatic cancer at his home in Ripon, Calif. He was 61.

An ordained bishop in the Church of God in Christ denomination, he won a Grammy Award in 1980 for his performance of "The Lord's Prayer." He made recordings with artists as varied as Irish singer Van Morrison and Danish harmonica player Lee Oskar, and his compositions were covered by musicians including soul singer Aretha Franklin and "American Idol" winner Ruben Studdard.

Hawkins was a member of one of modern gospel's leading families, which in the 1960s created a sound that reached into secular concert venues. The Hawkins family often performed in bell-bottoms and loud colors, using drums, guitars and unbridled emotion.

Their single "Oh Happy Day," an 18th-century hymn, became the first gospel song to climb the mainstream charts and won his brother Edwin Hawkins a Grammy in 1970 for best soul gospel performance.

In the early '70s, Hawkins founded the Love Center Church in their hometown of Oakland, Calif. He served as pastor and formed a choir whose "Love Alive" recordings sold millions of copies in the 1970s, '80s and '90s and consistently topped Billboard's gospel charts.

Walter Lee Hawkins was born in Oakland on May 18, 1949, the seventh of eight children who grew up in the projects. His father was a longshoreman who liked country music; his mother was a pianist who encouraged her children to sing.

1998's "Love Alive V," featuring Hawkins' ballad "Marvelous," was billed as a family reunion album that launched the Hawkinses on a national tour. During live performances, Hawkins served as the group's demanding, no-nonsense musical director. "I don't think God should have just anything. He requires your best," he said in 1999.

- The Washington Post