Another singing sensation can be added to the list of artists who became famous by posting videos on YouTube. One American singing group, Pentatonix is taking the viral video world by storm.
The five-member vocalist group is becoming well known for their smooth harmonizing and singing all performed a cappella, without any instruments.
The group, which was named after the five-note music scale, gained media attention for their series of YouTube videos covering songs like "Royals" by Lorde and "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye. Altogether their videos have a total of over 155 million views, according to Pentatonix's website.
One video, 36 songs broken down into a 4-minute performance called the "Evolution of Music," currently has over 31 million views since it was posted last April.
Another video, a 6-minute cover of 28 Beyoncé songs called the "Evolution of Beyoncé," has 10 million views.
Pentatonix was first formed when the lead vocalist, Scott Hoying, decided to audition for season 3 of NBC's "The Sing-Off" in 2011, according to the group's website. Hoying, 22, contacted his longtime friends Kirstie Maldonado, 22, and Mitch Grassi, 21, who already formed their own group back in high school.
Hoying later found the last two members- 24-year-old Avi Kaplan, a bass, and beatboxer Kevin Olusola, 25. Together the group covers songs across several genres, including folk, pop, jazz, electronica and R&B.
According to the group's website, the members did not actually meet until less than 24 hours before the competition, which they won. Since then the a cappella group has made several television appearances, including a performance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and "Katie" with Katie Couric in 2013.
Pentatonix's latest YouTube creation is a cover of several songs from the Disney movie "Frozen" that came out last November.
Pentatonix is currently preparing for their 2014 tour. Upcoming tour dates and locations can be seen here.
