The man behind the world's first karaoke machine has passed away.
Tokyo-based entrepreneur Shigeichi Negishi, 100, died from natural causes after a fall, though no further details have been released.
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His daughter Atsumi Takano made the announcement this week to journalist Matt Alt, stating that her father passed away on January 26, 2024.
Farewell to another legend: Shigeichi Negishi, inventor of karaoke, has died age 100. By automating the sing-along, he earned the enmity of performers who saw his machine as a threat to their jobs. It's an eerie precursor of the debate surrounding AI's impact on artists today. pic.twitter.com/ZOpLdSisb2
— Matt Alt (@Matt_Alt) March 14, 2024
ORIGIN OF THE KARAOKE MACHINE
Shigeichi came up with the idea for the karaoke machine after a colleague made fun of him after hearing him sing in the office.
He was working at the time as an executive for an electronics company.
Shigeichi thought he would sound better if a backing track accompanied him while singing.
He tested this theory by wiring together a speaker, a microphone, and a tape deck that played an instrumental version of "Mujo no Yume" by Yoshio Kodama.
Shigeichi developed the prototype of his machine in 1967.
Shigeichi proposed the name "karaoke" but his distributor rejected the suggestion as it sounded like 'kanoke," which in Japanese means "coffin."
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This prompted Shigeichi to call his device Sparko Box.
The Sparko Box was never patented.
Shigeichi successfully sold his machines to establishments across Japan, including restaurants and bars, making the Sparko Box the first commercially available karaoke machine.
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By the time he stopped selling Sparko Box in 1975, it was estimated that Shigeichi sold around 8,000 units of the machine.
Reports said that the only functioning Sparko Box existing in the world today is owned by Shigeichi's family.