Singing Karaoke has become a world wide favorite in the past 10 to 15 years, that has proven its staying power among those that love music, and want to get into the act by doing more than being just a spectator. Most anyone who loves music, is a singer or an air guitarist, right?

Karaoke offers people the opportunity to do something extraordinary . . . get up on stage and perform the songs of their favorite stars. Karaoke singers have great fun as they "do their thing" on stage, and actually become stars among their friends & peers in the crowd watching.

It's more about fun, than about singing really good, and the beauty of it is that anyone can do it! Many of our cultural icons are known to show up at Karaoke shows & sing into the wee hours of the morning, because it's just so much fun!

In fact, most of today's big name recording stars use this format while performing live to insure they don't forget the words to the songs. (there's nothing more embarrassing than being a big star, and forgetting your lines!) Remember seeing all those monitors on stage while you're favorite star is performing? Well, one of them has a TV monitor built into it, so the performer can see the lyrics come across the screen. This is a major secret that big time artists, and recording companies don't want the public to find out! Karaoke is so big, those in the "big time" are using it to help them perform live concerts.

Elvis Presley was the first star to use this format, although he didn't have it on a TV monitor. He had cue cards with the lyrics to his songs on them, which led to further development of this idea using technology. To see Elvis using this concept in concert, just watch the old videos of Elvis in Hawaii. When the camera pans the crowd, you'll see a guy in front of the stage with big cue cards that have Elvis' lyrics written on them. Huh . . . Imagine that! The King of Rock n Roll, singing Karaoke!

It is claimed that Jimmy Hendrix was the first recording artist to produce an actual CD+G. Only difference was that his creation had psychedelic graphics, and not words, that moved to the music (acid anyone?). But still, his creation gave birth to the idea, and the technology of producing what is now known as the modern day Karaoke CD+G discs that are the foundation to what has become a world wide entertainment phenomenon that's constantly growing in popularity, and is here to stay!