The Gospellers | Profile The Gospellers are a five-man a cappella band composed of Tetsuya Murakami, Kaoru Kurosawa, Yuji Sakai, Youichi Kitayama, and Yutaka Yasuoka. Formed in 1991, the members of the group originally met in the Street Corner Symphony a cappella club at prestigious Waseda University. The Gospellers released their first mini-album Down to Street on File Records in August 1994. After several changes in the lineup, the group made their major label debut with the single "Promise" on Sony's Ki/oon Records at the end of the same year. Japan had yet to fully embrace soul music at this point, not to mention a cappella music, but the band generated enough interest among afficionados and the general public alike to convince Ki/oon to bet on them. Their first full-length, The Gospellers, dropped in 1995, followed by Nimaime in 1996, Mo Beat in 1997, Vol. 4 in 1998, Five Keys in 1999, and Soul Serenade in 2000. In August 2000, leading up to the release of Soul Serenade, the group released the single "Towani", produced by Brian Michael (Mariah Carey). Combining a traditional Japanese melody line with contemporary arrangement, "Towani" saw heavy rotation in 2000, taking the group to a new level of exposure. Love Notes, a collection of love songs, was released in June 2001, going on to sell almost two million copies, also seeing release in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. The album's biggest single, "Hitori", charted strongly. The group's next album, entitled Frenzy, was release in early 2002, again spawning multiple hits and significantly raising their profile overseas. A Cappella was released in December 2002, followed by Dressed Up to the Nines in March 2004 and G10, a best-of album commemorating the group's ten years in the spotlight, in December of the same year. Dressed Up to the Nines in particular birthed several big hits, including the theme song for the Japan Racing Association ("Machikado-On the Corner") and the ending theme for the television program ER ("End Roll"), as well as the radio-friendly "Right on, Babe" and "Shin Osaka". In addition to releasing and touring, the group has also provided music to other artists, done chorus work for other recordings, and gotten into production. by Bill Haw
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