Who invented karaoke is a question that many people are interested in. If you are one of them, let's find out together!
Although you may have heard, karaoke is not Japanese for “tone deaf,” as many people think. It’s a combination of the Japanese word kara, meaning “empty,” and oke, a shortened form of okesutora, meaning “orchestra.” But who came up with this interesting concept?
Shigeichi Negishi's Sparko Box
The story of karaoke begins in the late 1960s in Japan with a man named Shigeichi Negishi. He owned Nichiden Kogyo, a company that manufactured 8-track players, and one day he was singing along to a radio show called “Pop Songs Without Lyrics” at the end of the workday. An engineer noticed this and gently teased his boss—and Negishi had an idea. “I asked him, ‘Can we connect a microphone to one of these tape recorders so we can hear ourselves singing on a recording of Pop Songs Without Lyrics?’” Negishi recalled in 2020. “ ‘Easy peasy, boss,’ he said.” A machine was on his desk just three days later. Negishi took the device, which he called the “Sparko Box,” home to his family and knew he had a hit on his hands.
At the time, the word karaoke was already in use—it was an industry term for backing tapes that performers would sing along to when they couldn't bring a full band or orchestra. Negishi sought a distributor for his machine, which came with booklets of lyrics.
Unfortunately, guitarists (who dominated the sing-along market at the time) liked to hop from bar to bar, which almost killed the karaoke premise—the Sparko box. Negishi said that bar owners rejected his Sparko box. Wherever it was placed, musicians forced the owners to take it away. The product was never patented.
Daisuke Inoue appears
In 1971, musician Daisuke Inoue invented the karaoke machine himself. At the time, he was living in Kobe and playing drums in a band that would accompany bar patrons when they wanted to sing. He told a reporter for The Guardian that he was a terrible musician, so he created a machine to play music instead when he didn’t want to (or couldn’t). Daisuke Inoue built 11 machines and rented them out to local businesses.
The machine was a success, and soon other companies began making them. By the 1980s, karaoke was everywhere in Japan. According to Forbes, the first American karaoke bar opened in Los Angeles in 1982. By 2003—the first year of the World Karaoke Championship, which featured seven countries— karaoke had become a worldwide phenomenon .
Students need a specific type of laptop for their studies. It should not only be powerful enough to perform well in their chosen major, but also compact and light enough to carry around all day.
Birth defects are something no one wants. Although they cannot be completely prevented, you can take the following steps to reduce the risk of birth defects in your baby.
As you know, RAM is a very important hardware part in a computer, acting as memory to process data and is the factor that determines the speed of a laptop or PC. In the article below, WebTech360 will introduce you to some ways to check for RAM errors using software on Windows.
The automatic home coffee maker is a modern and professional product, bringing you and your family delicious cups of coffee with just a few quick steps.
Smart TVs have really taken the world by storm. With so many great features and the ability to connect to the Internet, technology has changed the way we watch TV.
Refrigerators are familiar appliances in families. Refrigerators usually have 2 compartments, the cool compartment is spacious and has a light that automatically turns on every time the user opens it, while the freezer compartment is narrow and has no light.
Wi-Fi networks are affected by many factors beyond routers, bandwidth, and interference, but there are some smart ways to boost your network.
If you want to go back to stable iOS 16 on your phone, here is the basic guide to uninstall iOS 17 and downgrade from iOS 17 to 16.
Yogurt is a great food. Is it good to eat yogurt every day? What will happen to your body when you eat yogurt every day? Let's find out together!
This article discusses the most nutritious types of rice and how to maximize the health benefits of whichever rice you choose.
Establishing a sleep schedule and bedtime routine, changing your alarm clock, and adjusting your diet are some of the measures that can help you sleep better and wake up on time in the morning.
Rent Please! Landlord Sim is a simulation mobile game on iOS and Android. You will play as a landlord of an apartment complex and start renting out an apartment with the goal of upgrading the interior of your apartments and getting them ready for rent.
Get Bathroom Tower Defense Roblox game codes and redeem them for exciting rewards. They will help you upgrade or unlock towers with higher damage.
Let's learn about the structure, symbols and operating principles of transformers in the most accurate way.
From better picture and sound quality to voice control and more, these AI-powered features are making smart TVs so much better!
