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"Oh Happy Day" was a 1952 surprise hit song, one of the first whose initial popularity was driven by teenagers rather than support from the music industry.
The song was originally recorded and copyrighted by Don Howard Koplow, a high school student who had learned the song secondhand and recorded it under the name "Don Howard"; the song's originator, Nancy Binns Reed, heard the record and within weeks of its release sued to claim songwriter credit. Reed and Koplow eventually settled, with each receiving co-writer credits. Concurrently with Howard's original acoustic pop recording, concurrent cover versions by two established acts, the Lawrence Welk Orchestra (whose version featured a now-famous basso profondo lead vocal by Larry Hooper) and the Four Knights, were also released; for a time in 1953, all three versions were top-10 hits.