The Gospellers

The Gospellers (ゴスペラーズ) is a Japanese a cappella singing group comprised of five members: Tetsuya Murakami, Kaoru Kurosawa, Yuji Sakai, Yoichi Kitayama and Masaru Yasuoka.

Originally calling themselves the A Cappella Circle when they were at the University of Waseda, they changed their name to the Gospellers in 1991 after graduating. They spent the next ten years working towards national recognition, releasing 24 singles and 9 albums during that time. They became the first complete a cappella group to be in the top 3 of the Oricon chart ranking in Japan with their song, "HITORI".

In early 2006, the group made a side-project release, Gosperats, featuring the members in blackface and singing with a jazzier accompaniment Rats & Star's member Masayuki Suzuki, Nobuyoshi Kuwano and Yoshio Sato. Many of the western Gospeller fans were upset about the outrage it caused on some discussion forums, many that weren't fans felt offended by the blackface the group members had chosen to take on. Fortunately, this project was announced as a side-project and released only one album under its name.

The members of Gospellers are now producers for several Japanese artists, including Tatsuya Ishii and Masayuki Suzuki. · close