Karaoke inventor Shigeichi Negishi dies at 100, more than 50 years since the launch of the global party favorite
THE inventor of karaoke has died at the age of 100.
Shigeichi Negishi launched the iconic party favorite around the world more than 50 years ago.
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The Tokyo-based entrepreneur automated the lyrics into popular Japanese pop songs in 1967 with his legendary invention the “Sparko Box”.
The idea for a sing-along device came about when he was an engineer at an electronics company – a place where he regularly sang around his colleagues.
He said the Sparko Box was born after an employee teased him about his singing skills.
Negishi took the comment to heart before stating that he would sound better with a backing track to sing along to.
To start, the clever new music device simply used a microphone, speaker and tape deck to play the tune.
He revealed this in the book ‘Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World’, he knew immediately that he had discovered something special.
He said: “It works! That’s all I thought. It was mostly fun.
“I immediately knew that I had discovered something new.”
He felt great pride seeing his idea evolve into a culture of having fun through songs around the world
Atsumi Takano
Negishi died of natural causes on January 26, according to his daughter Atsumi Takano.
She just revealed the tragedy news to the world, saying her father had previously passed away peacefully passing away.
She said: “He felt a lot pride seeing his idea evolve into a culture of having fun through song around the world.
“For him, a hundred years surrounded by his family was reward enough.”
Negishi is survived by three loving children, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Despite the world being obsessed with karaoke for fifty years after the original Sparko Box was designed by Negishi, it reportedly only sold 8,000 products.
This was because he had difficulty getting a patent for the product in Japan and soon left the troublesome musical company behind him after just a few years.
It is believed that his family has the only remaining Sparko Box in the world.
Negishi then spent two years of his long life as a prisoner of war world War 2 in various camps in Singapore before being released in 1947.
After returning home, he founded Nichiden Kogyo, an electrical appliances company that helped assemble transistor radios, hi-fi systems and car radios for other manufacturers.
The first official creator of karaoke has long been debated, with several people claiming credit.
All-Japan Karaoke Industrialist Association, the country’s largest karaoke manufacturers and retailers, credits Negishi.
But many others consider Japanese musician Daisuke Inoue as the man who made it a worldwide hit.
Inoue released his own version of the Sparko Box in the 8 Juke box in 1971 and was even named one of the ‘most influential Asians of the century’ by Time magazine in 1999.
The actual name karaoke comes from the two words “empty” and “orchestra” in Japanese.