The Abridged version:
- The singer whose voice popularized the gospel hit “Oh Happy Day” gave a rare performance of the song at New Home Missionary Baptist Church in Sacramento.
- Dorothy Combs Morrison, who has lived in Elk Grove for 10 years, sang and performed with musical acts throughout a wide-ranging career.
- The power to connect with and move people through music has kept Morrison singing nearly 60 years after her voice reached a national audience.
A chord from a Hammond B-3 organ rang out from the church room stage. A drumbeat followed. The choir rose.
The congregation stood in the pews as Dorothy Combs Morrison began to sing her song. The song she sang many times before. The one written for her.
Those words and her voice empowered the churchgoers, moving them the way that song has moved bodies and souls for decades.
“Oh Happy Day” still brings a crowd to its feet. As the vocalist who popularized the song many years ago, Morrison knows how to inspire an audience. That was the case earlier this month when she gave a rare performance at New Home Missionary Baptist Church in Sacramento.
“It does something to people,” Morrison said of music. “That’s my whole thing. I want to change somebody’s heart.”
The live version of “Oh Happy Day” at New Home was exponentially more vibrant than the recording that brought Morrison fame.
She felt an out-of-body experience when she recorded “Oh Happy Day” almost 60 years ago, similar to the feeling she continues to have every time she sings the song.
“I feel something different every time,” she said. “I sing it different every time.”
‘Overwhelmed my heart’
Morrison, who has lived in Elk Grove for 10 years, rarely sings in the Sacramento area.
At 82 years old, she is tall and striking and makes full use of the stage. Her rich, multirange voice remains as dynamic as her stage presence.
After decades with the lyrics, Morrison’s understanding of her message has deepened. She doesn’t just perform the song. She delivers it. It’s her statement, her sermon.
For her eight minutes at the microphone that morning, she was a leader. She engaged the congregation, giving a visual cue when she wanted their input. The audience packed into the small church knew what to do. They followed her lead and responded to her call. Their collective energy was electric.
That call-and-response style, with a choir and audience, is an important tool in gospel music.
“People feel it more, because they can relate,” Morrison said. “They can feel it in their bones. They get to participate in it. And it makes it exciting.”
The collaborative approach provides guidance for the audience. And Morrison knows when the strategy is working.
“They’re not going to only respond,” she said. “They’re gonna stand up!”
New Home first lady Paula Robertson, wife of pastor Anthony Robertson, was among those standing for Morrison’s set.
Robertson first met Morrison at their swim class. Naturally, Morrison sang there, too.
“Dorothy’s music overwhelmed my heart the first time I heard her sing while the class was in the pool,” Robertson said. “As Dorothy was singing, the entire class was singing along. It was so amazing.”
A timeless presence
Edwin Hawkins recognized Morrison’s dynamic presence 60 years ago. The music director wrote “Oh Happy Day” as a modern twist on a hymn from the 1750s. With it, he created a milestone in the genre known as progressive gospel. He had Morrison’s voice in mind for her range and her energy.
The Combs family was well-known in Bay Area gospel music circles. They often took part in friendly competitions with other family choirs, including the Hawkins and the Stewarts (later known as Sly and the Family Stone). Dorothy was given solos starting at age 12. Even then, her voice ranged from second soprano to baritone.
Hawkins knew his version of the hymn would not be popular with the church. Sacred music, at that time, was not as expressive as his composition and Morrison’s delivery. Hawkins knew Morrison might bear the brunt of the controversy, and he knew she could handle the pressure.
“So, he said, ‘But I know you can do it, Dorothy,’” Morrison said of Hawkins. “‘I know you. You’re not afraid.’”
Success of ‘Oh Happy Day’
“Oh Happy Day,” which was released in 1967 when Morrison was in her early 20s, became a worldwide hit by The Edwin Hawkins Singers. It ranked in the top 10 on Billboard in the U.S. and Europe. Since then, the song has been covered by musicians as diverse as Elvis Presley, Reba McEntire, André Rieu and the South African group Soweto Gospel Choir. It was featured in the film “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.”
George Harrison has been quoted as saying that “Oh Happy Day” inspired him to write “My Sweet Lord.”
Harley White Jr. is a musician whose trio regularly plays at Brasserie du Monde in Sacramento. He has known and worked with Morrison for about 10 years.
“Dorothy is a cultural icon,” he said. “Her voice was a new direction for gospel music.”
There is a universality to music. Just about everyone can find a form that speaks to them.
“It’s like sunshine,” Morrison said. “When it shines, it shines on everybody.”
Before she sings, Morrison has a singular motive: “Let it make somebody, if they’re having problems, let it lift their burdens. Let it help them out.”
Her fans often tell her how much her music has helped them. Released in the Vietnam era, the song even spoke to soldiers. Morrison said she heard from veterans when they returned from combat.
“It gave them a sense of, hang on, you’re gonna make it,” she said. “It encouraged them.”
That, Morrison said, is the purpose of music.
“Music is powerful,” she said. “I was told a long time ago, and I really keep it in my spirit, music soothes people when they’re weary, when they’re confused.
“You can go where people are having a hard time, but play some music and their spirit somehow will calm down.”
An undeniable connection
Morrison knows her talent has changed lives. Her ability to connect is undeniable. It’s what sets her apart from other singers. As a spiritual person, she refers to it as the anointing.
“The anointing comes through my singing. I come from the heart, and I reach the heart,” she said. “People change when you reach the heart.”
Robertson, the church’s first lady, sees how Morrison reaches people’s hearts.
“What makes Dorothy so relatable is her genuine love she has for people,” Robertson said. “I have observed the way people gravitate to her loving and kind spirit.”
White boiled it down to one trait.
“Integrity,” he said. “She walks her walk and she talks her talk. Jesus Christ is her savior. Ask her. Better yet, have her sing a song about it.”
‘Change somebody’s heart’
Morrison said she was never paid for the recording of the song. She left The Edwin Hawkins Singers shortly after the record was released, although they reunited for a short time to tour Europe.
She later recorded solo albums. She also worked with Boz Scaggs and with Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. She performed at the groundbreaking Big Sur Folk Festival in 1968.
She continues to sing gospel and, on occasion, jazz and blues. In recent years, she has been featured in performances by the Harley White Jr. Orchestra and The Blues Broads.
Sixty years after first singing “Oh Happy Day,” Morrison considered putting the song away. She thought about retiring. But that is unlikely.
“It’s my joy. It’s my peace,” she said. “Without this, I wouldn’t be me.”
It keeps her going.
“Without continuing to sing, I would be like a flower that withers,” she added. “So I changed my mind. I’m not gonna retire.”
Morrison knows that when she sings, she creates a moment powerful enough to move a room and change a person. The voice captured on wax long ago still brings a crowd to its feet because she sings from the heart, the place she reaches in others.
Donna Apidone is a regular contributor, writing Coming of Age for Abridged.