Небесные Девы: История группы The Grace

South Korean a cappella girl group

The Grace (stylized as 天上智喜 The Grace ; hangul=천상지희), known as Tenjochiki in Japan, is a South Korean a cappella girl group consisting of Lina, Dana, Sunday and Stephanie. Formed by SM Entertainment in 2005, they were introduced as the female counterpart of TVXQ. Throughout the group's career, they released and performed music in Korean and Japanese with a total of three studio albums and many more singles. In December 2008, Stephanie announced to be absence from group activities due her treatment of back pain and the group remained as three piece. The group continued to release music until their second Japanese album Dear , in January 2009. The group performed as a three piece (without Stephanie) lastly in May 2010 at SM Town Live '10 World Tour in Seoul concert prior the group halted group promotions. In July 2011, the group returned with the unit Dana & Sunday and continued to release some digital singles before also going into hiatus. Currently all of The Grace's members maintain solo careers in fields including music, theater, and television, while member Stephanie signed with another music label for her solo music and maintaining her contract with SM Entertainment until it expired in 2016. Dana left SM Entertainment after contract expired on June 23, 2020. On January 19, 2021, Sunday left SM Entertainment.

The Grace made their first live performance in China on April 29, 2005. They performed their debut songs "Too Good" and "Boomerang", and the performance was broadcast weeks later by the Chinese channel CCTV. The verses in "Boomerang" were also sung in Chinese. The quartet made their first live performance in South Korea with "Too Good" on SBS's music program Inkigayo on May 1, 2005. They promoted the song for a few months before switching to "Boomerang". After 7 months of promoting their first singles in Korea, the group headed off to promote in China. The Chinese version of the single was officially released in March 2006. The single included three new tracks: the Chinese versions of "Too Good" and "Boomerang" and the pre group track "Fight To The End". After promotional activities concluded, The Grace headed to Japan.

They debut Japanese single "Boomerang" was released January 25, 2006. Later, the song was re recorded and released with Japanese lyrics and an altered instrumental track, and a B side called Do You Know?, a solo song by member Sunday. "Boomerang" ranked #110 in the Japanese Singles Top 200 chart. On March 8, they released second Japanese single "The Club", along with a solo song by Stephanie called "What U Want" was released. It reached #131 on the Japanese Oricon Charts. The single was also promoted briefly in South Korea. After quick promotional activities in Korea, the group went back to Japan for their third Japanese single, "Sweet Flower" which was used as the theme for the month of April on the TBS Radio & Communications music show Count Down TV. "Sweet Flower" entered the charts at #151. The single was also released in Korea by SM, but it was left unchanged from its Japanese version. The Chinese version of their Japanese single "Boomerang" was released on June 19 by Avex Trax's official Chinese distributor CRSC in China. In Taiwan and Hong Kong, also included the Korean version of The Club was released and contained a Chinese version of "The Club" plus a DVD with the Korean music video. Even with the first few singles having low sales, another single was scheduled to be released. "Juicy Love" was in stark contrast with The Grace's previous singles, as it had a reggae beat. Corn Head, a Japanese reggae singer, was featured in this song. The B side was "Sayonara no Mukō ni", The Grace's first Japanese ballad written and sung by Dana. Like the previous single, "Juicy Love" was released in Korea unchanged. After returning to Korea on November 3, 2006, the band released the single "My Everything" and started promotion as CSJH The Grace. The song is a ballad track unlike their previous singles. The B side track included an A cappella version of George Michael's "Faith", "The Final Sentence" and "Iris (할 말이 있어요)". However, the change did not result in an increase in sales; the single entered at #30 on the Music Industry Association of Korea's month end sales chart.

The group's first album, 한번 더, OK? (Hanbeon Deo, OK? ; One More Time, OK?) was released on May 4, 2007. The title song "One More Time, OK?" was The Grace's most successful song to date, topping Mnet M Countdown and SBS Inkigayo charts. The album reached sixth place for the month. On June 15, the album was released in Taiwan, The Grace's first major release overseas. "One More Time, OK?" won the Best Dance Music award at the 2007 Mnet Asian Music Awards (M. Net KM Music Festival). A fifth Japanese single by the group, "Piranha" was released in August, consisting of "Piranha" and Japanese versions of "My Everything" and "Just For One Day", featuring TVXQ's Jaejoong. The single debuted at #26 on the Oricon daily charts and peaked at #50 on weekly charts. In November, their first Japanese album Graceful 4 was released, consisting of nine previously released songs and new material, including the Japanese version of "One More Time, OK?" from their first Korean album's title track.

During the first months of 2008, The Grace performed at various events in support of their first Japanese album. They held three concerts in April and May named Graceful Party Vol. 1. The last one, at Daikanyama UNIT in Tokyo, featured their upcoming release "Here", a collaboration with hip hop group, Cliff Edge. Their sixth Japanese single called "Stand Up People", was released on July 23. It consisted of "Dear Friend", remixes of "Stand Up People" and "One More Time, OK?". Their seventh single, "Here" was released on October 22, but after the song leaked, a limited time free download was offered. "Here" was the theme song of both the drama and movie of Homeless School Student, based on a Japanese best seller book. A second song and music video were released, titled "Near". "Here" reached #16 on the Oricon Charts with sales of over 16,000. In December 2008, it was announced through the group's Japanese website that Stephanie would absent from the group activities due to her back pain and remained of the member would continue the group activities.