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 pop songs in 1967 through a “Sparko Box”.
The idea came to him when he was an engineer at an electronics company – a place where he would frequently sing casually around 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.
Negishi died on 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.”
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