Karaoke inventor Shigeichi Negishi dies aged 100 more than 50 years since launching global party favourite
THE inventor of karaoke has died at 100 years old.
Shigeichi Negishi launched the iconic party favorite beloved across the globe more than 50 years ago.
The Tokyo-based entrepreneur automated the lyrics to popular Japanese pop songs in 1967 through his legendary invention the "Sparko Box".
The idea of a device you could sing along with came to him when he was an engineer at an electronics company - a place where he would frequently sing around his colleagues.
He said the Sparko Box was born after an employee teased him for his singing ability.
Negishi took the comment in his stride before declaring he’d sound better with a backing track to sing along with.
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To begin with the clever new music device simply used a microphone, speaker, and tape deck to play the tune.
He revealed in the book 'Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World' that he knew he had discovered something special right away.
He said: “It works! That’s all I was thinking. Most of all, it was fun.
"I knew right away I’d discovered something new.”
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He felt a lot of pride in seeing his idea evolve into a culture of having fun through song around the world
Atsumi Takano
Negishi died of natural causes on January 26, according to his daughter Atsumi Takano.
She has only just revealed the tragic news to the world saying her father fell over before peacefully passing away.
She said: "He felt a lot of pride in seeing his idea evolve into a culture of having fun through song around the world.
"To him, spending a hundred years surrounded by his family was reward enough."
Negishi has left behind three loving children, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Despite the world being obsessed with karaoke for 50 years after the original Sparko Box was designed by Negishi, he reportedly only ever sold 8,000 products.
This was because he struggled to get a patent for the product in Japan and soon left the tricky musical business behind him after just a few years.
His family are thought to have the only remaining Sparko Box on the planet.
Negishi spent two years of his long life as a prisoner of war after World War 2 in various camps in Singapore before being released in 1947.
After returning home he founded Nichiden Kogyo, an electrical devices company that helped to assemble transistor radios, hi-fi systems and car stereos for other manufacturers.
The first official creator of karaoke has long been debated with several people claiming the honour.
All-Japan Karaoke Industrialist Association, the country's biggest karaoke manufacturers and retailers, credits Negishi.
But many others regard Japanese musician Daisuke Inoue as the man who made it a worldwide hit.
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Inoue released his own version of the Sparko Box in the 8 Juke box in 1971 and even went on to be named one of the “Most Influential Asians of the Century” by in 1999.
The actual name karaoke comes from the two words "empty" and "orchestra" in Japanese.