Shigeichi Negishi

Shigeichi Negishi was a Japanese engineer who invented the earliest prototype of the karaoke machine. Using a speaker, a microphone and a tape deck, he was able to amplify his voice and play an instrumental backing track simultaneously. Although Daisuke Inoue receives more international recognition for a similar invention, the All-Japan Karaoke Industrialist Association recognizes Negishi as the first among five independent inventors of the karaoke machine. Negishi was also drafted into the Japanese Army during World War II and was held as a POW for two years in Singapore.