10 Facts about Karaoke

• Karaoke originated in Japan when the scheduled band was unable to perform. The bar owner played music and encouraged the guests to sing along.

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• Sing Along with Mitch was the first karaoke-like TV series where the show displayed the lyrics at the bottom of the screen for home audience participation.

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• The first Karaoke machine was called "Sparko Box" and required singers to read the lyrics out of a paper booklet.

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• The game "Kamikaze Karaoke" (also known as Karaoke Roulette) was created from performers picking a random number on the karaoke soundtrack and attempting to sing it.

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• ​The first Karaoke game was Karaoke Studio from Nintendo, but the more popular Karaoke video games include Karaoke Revolution, Disney Sing It, Guitar Hero, and Xbox Music Mixer.

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• Karaoke has taken many forms, including but not limited to cassettes, children's toys, CDs, singing machines, DVDs, and Youtube videos.

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• Silent Karaoke is a recent trend for people to practice their singing before performing in front of a crowd. This involves singing into a cone that bounces the sound back and silences it.

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• The world record for the most people singing karaoke was at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2009 before the NASCAR Sharpie 500 race began. The song was "Friends in Low Places" by Garth Brooks.

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• The world record for the longest Karaoke session took place in Hungary. It lasted 1,011 hours and 1 minute. The world record for the longest solo Karaoke marathon is held by Leonardo Polverelli who sang 1,295 songs in 101 hours and 59 minutes.

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• The top 5 most requested songs in America are Summer Nights by Grease, Let It Go by Idina Menzel, Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond, Billy Jean by Michael Jackson, and Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.