Shigeichi Negishi, The Karaoke Inventor, Passes Away At 100

The creator of the contemporary karaoke machine, Shigeichi Negishi, has passed away at the age of 100. According to Negishi’s daughter Atsumi Takano, the Japanese businessman passed away on January 26 following a fall, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.

One of the first people to announce Negishi’s passing on X, the former Twitter platform, was WSJ reporter Matt Alt. He stated that Negishi’s family had urged him to do so. In 1967, the man in his 40s, a salesperson, created the initial karaoke machine at his tech firm, Nichiden Kogyo, where he earned a living.

The first inspiration for Negishi’s moniker, “Sparko Box,” originated from a joke that one of his staff members made fun of his singing voice. According to NPR, artist Daisuke Inoue was long considered the father of karaoke, even though Negishi is generally recognized as the machine’s inventor. However, Inoue’s version was independently invented in 1971.

After that, Negishi set out on the road as a traveling salesperson, trying to convince establishments like hotels, restaurants, pubs, and any other place he could think of to carry Sparko Boxes. He sold about 8,000 devices by the conclusion of his tenure, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Negishi never filed for a patent on the invention, primarily blaming the challenging patenting environment in Japan in the 1960s. Takano, however, asserts that “truly, the patent never bothered him.”

Ten great-grandchildren, five grandkids, and three children survive Negishi.