Contemporary Gospel

Contemporary gospel is the modernisation of African American gospel that began in the late 1960s: traditional quartet and choir singing opened to soul, R&B and pop harmony, electric bands, and solo singer-arrangers writing their own material. *Edwin Hawkins* launched it in 1968 when "Oh Happy Day", recorded with his *Edwin Hawkins Singers*, became an international pop hit; *Andraé Crouch*, *Walter Hawkins* and *Tramaine Hawkins* then carried the music into studios and concert halls without surrendering its church core of testimony, call-and-response and improvisation. It is the bridge between traditional gospel and the urban contemporary gospel that followed.