The Gospellers are a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese a cappella

A cappella

A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...

 vocal group made up of Tetsuya Murakami, Kaoru Kurosawa, Yuji Sakai, Yoichi Kitayama and Yutaka Yasuoka.

Originally formed by Murakami and Kurosawa (along with 4 other members) in 1991 as a group within a college chorus club "Street Corner Symphony" at the University of Waseda, they recruited 3 new members in order to fill the vacancy (4 members previously left the group due to their job placement activities) for the recording of The Gospellers, their first major label release in 1994. They spent the next 6 years working towards national recognition, releasing 13 singles and 5 albums, until they finally came up with a hit single "Towa ni," which stayed in the Oricon

Oricon

, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...

 chart ranking for 44 consecutive weeks in 2000 and 2001. They became the first a cappella group to be in the top 3 of the chart in Japan with their 16th single, "Hitori."

In early 2006, the group made a side-project release, Gosperats, which featured the members in blackface

Blackface

Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...

 and singing with more soul and jazz-like accompaniment, with Rats & Star

Rats & Star

, formerly called Chanels, is a male J-pop group which specializes in doo-wop-influenced music. They performed at the reputed night club Whisky a Go Go of Los Angeles for two years in a row. The group is led by Masayuki Suzuki.-Members:...

 members Masayuki Suzuki

Masayuki Suzuki

Masayuki Suzuki is a Japanese singer best known as a former member of Rats & Star...

, Nobuyoshi Kuwano

Nobuyoshi Kuwano

Nobuyoshi Kuwano is a Japanese television performer, former member of Rats & Star. His nickname is "Kuwa-man" . In Rats & Star, he took charge of the trumpet and vocal...

 and Yoshio Sato, who originally, along with such a style, established the popularity of R&B and Doo-wop

Doo-wop

The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...

 in the 1980s in Japan.

Singles

• 'Promise' (21 December 1994)
• 'U'll be Mine' (21 July 1995)
• 'Winter Cheers!' (9 November 1995)
• 'Two-Way Street' (1 March 1996)
• 'Calendar' (1 July 1996)
• 'Machikirenai' (1 November 1996)
• 'Wolf/Urufu' (21 June 1997)
• 'Owaranai Sekai/Vol.' (26 December 1997)
• 'Yuyake Shaffuru' (22 April 1998)
• 'BOO -Onaka ga Sukuhodo Warattemitai-' (20 June 1998)
• 'Atarashii Sekai' (12 December 1998)
• 'Nettai-ya' (19 June 1999)
• 'Password' (1 December 1999)
• 'Towa ni' (23 August 2000)
• 'Kokuhaku' (6 December 2000)
• 'Hitori' (7 March 2001)
• 'Yakusoku no Kisetsu' (1 August 2001)
• 'Chikai' (14 November 2001)
• 'Get Me On' (20 February 2002)
• 'Escort' (10 April 2002)
• 'Hoshikuzu no Machi' (13 November 2002)
• 'Right on Babe' (16 July 2003)
• 'Shin Osaka' (22 October 2003)
• 'Machikado - on the corner-' (28 January 2004)
• 'Mimosa' (27 October 2004)
• 'Hitosuji no Kiseki' (24 May 2006)
• 'Platinum Kiss' (18 October 2006)
• 'Hinoataru Sakamichi' (18 October 2006)
• 'Platinum Kiss/Hinoataru Sakamichi' (1 January 2007)
• 'It still matters～ Ai wa nemuranai' feat. Howie D (17 October 2007)
• 'Aoi Tori' (12 March 2008)
• 'Lorelei' (9 July 2008)
• 'Sky High' (12 November 2008)
• '1,2,3 for 5' (11 February 2009)
• 'Sorae ~Reach for the sky~' (19 August 2009)
• 'Love Notes' (14 November 2009)

Albums

• The Gospellers (21 October 1995)
• Nimaime (1 September 1996)
• MO' BEAT (21 July 1997)
• Vol.4 (21 August 1998)
• FIVE KEYS (23 July 1999)
• Soul Serenade (12 October 2000)
• Love Notes (6 June 2001)
• FRENZY (20 February 2002)
• a Cappella (4 December 2002)
• Dressed up to the Nines (10 March 2004)
• G10 (17 November 2004)
• Be as One (22 November 2006)
• The Gospellers Works (28 November 2007)
• Hurray! (11 March 2009)
• Love Notes II (28 October 2009)

DVD

• THE GOSPELLERS CLIPS 1999-2001 (1 August 2001)
• THE GOSPELLERS CLIPS 1995-1998 (1 August 2001)
• Sakaagari. (1 August 2001)
• Akapera Ko (2 July 2003)
• THE GOSPELLERS CLIPS 2001-2004 (14 April 2004)
• THE GOSPELLERS zaka tour G10 (24 August 2005)
• THE GOSPELLERS CLIPS 1995-2007　～Complete～ (5 December 2007)

VHS

• THE GOSPELLERS CLIPS 1995-1998 (14 March 1999)
• THE GOSPELLERS CLIPS 1999-2001 (1 August 2001)
• Akapera Ko (2 July 2003)
• THE GOSPELLERS CLIPS 2001-2004 (14 April 2004)
• THE GOSPELLERS zaka tour G10 (24 August 2005)

External links

• Gostudio : The Gospellers Official Site
• GosTV - An official website by GRACIAS
• Gospellers - An official website by Sony Music Online Japan
• Nippop Profile | The Gospellers