Who was Shigeichi Negishi? All you need to know as Karaoke machine inventor dies aged 100

Japanese businessman Shigeichi Negishi passed away at the age of 100 on January 26, 2024. In 1967, Negishi faced ridicule for his singing voice and invented the Sparko Box device to pair up his voice with a backing track. This invention later evolved into the Karaoke machine.

According to his daughter, Atsumi Takano, Negishi died of natural causes following a fall. Despite spending his entire career at Nichiden Kogyo, Negishi never patented the Karaoke machine due to the challenges of doing so in Japan at the time. Nonetheless, he managed to sell 8,000 models of his invention.

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Shigeichi Negishi's legacy and the Sparko Box: Explored

Wall Street Journal's Matt Alt, who interviewed Karaoke machine inventor Shigeichi Negishi in 2018, shared the news of his passing with a tweet. Negishi passed away on January 26 at the age of 100. His daughter Atsumi Takano, revealed that Negishi had suffered a fall, after which he passed due to natural causes. Matt Alt wrote in his tweet:

"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."

Japanese salesman Shigeichi Negishi worked at the tech company Nichiden Kogyo, which made 8-track tape decks for vehicles. Negishi loved to sing, but one fine day he was simply singing to himself, and a fellow employee heard his singing and teased him for his voice. Nigishi exclaimed in his 2018 Matt Alt interview and stated that the employee had told him:

"You aren’t a very good singer, Mr. Negishi!"

Inspired by the idea that his singing would improve with accompaniment, Negishi then instructed the engineers at his company to pair together a tape deck, speaker, and microphone to create the first version of the Karaoke machine. The first song he ever sang with the help of the machine was Yoshio Kodama's Mujo no Yume, played using an 8-track inserted into the machine.

His fellow employees were all fascinated with the device, and when he took it home, so too was his family. Atsumi Takano recalled in the Alt interview:

"I still remember how shocked and thrilled all of us were hearing our voices come out of the speaker."

The Sparko Box was launched in 1967 when Negishi was in his 40s. Negishi could not patent his device, as it was difficult to do so in Japan, at the time. However, the lack of a patent never really bothered Shigeichi Negishi. He traveled around the country and sold 8,000 models of the Sparko Box to bars, hotels, and other venues. Atsumi Takano told WSJ:

"He felt a lot of pride in seeing his idea evolve into a culture of having fun through song around the world."

She added:

"To him, spending a hundred years surrounded by his family was reward enough."

However, Matt Alt compared the Sparko Box with the current impact of AI on artists due to the device's earlier conflicts with the nagashi, wandering guitar players who would offer their services to bars and other venues. These guitar players disliked the device as it sort of replaced them and would even persuade business owners to get rid of the device. Negishi told Matt Alt:

"It was the nagashi! They were complaining. Everywhere we put the box, they’d force the owners to take it away."

According to WSJ, Shigeichi Negishi stepped out of the Karaoke business in 1975, and his beloved Sparko Box is now recognized by the All-Japan Karaoke Industrialist Association as the first Karaoke machine ever made. He is survived by three kids, five grandkids, and eight great-grandkids.