But today, it's a whole different story." Of course, it was hard at first - I never looked at the other people, just the screen. "And I've always loved music, so it was great to go out and be with people who loved it too. "It was just after my divorce, and it was a kind of release," says Hall. When he started going to karaoke clubs to exercise his talent, he found the experience therapeutic. That's when Hall, an air force sergeant by day, won an international military talent contest and realized just how much he loved to sing. His business, Bob's Karaoke Unlimited and Mobile DJ, began 10 years ago. Northern California KJ Bob Hall has over 7,800 songs in his database. Karaoke jockeys, or "KJs," bring their machines and song libraries to clubs, private parties and special events. Home computers can now become personal karaoke machines.
Today, karaoke is everywhere, having changed its format over the years from tapes to laser to CD and now DVD. It quickly caught on in Japan, and arrived on North American shores not long after. It got its start in the western Japanese city of Kobe, where businesspeople enjoyed it as a unique form of after-work stress relief. "Karaoke" means "empty orchestra" - what music tapes in Japan were called when only the musical accompaniment was recorded. Some estimate that there are nearly one million enthusiastic karaoke singers in North America alone. Since it began in Japan around 20 years ago, millions of people around the world have performed karaoke either in the privacy of their homes or in crowded clubs. You'll have plenty of company in this hobby. Karaoke (pronounced keri-O-ki) involves singing along to pre-recorded music as the lyrics scroll by on a video screen - usually to the shouts of encouraging crowds. If you like to sing in the shower or the car, karaoke may be just the hobby for you. This pastime invented by and for the Japanese is gaining fans of all ages worldwide. Karaoke is a phenomenon now found in hit movies and TV. How much do people love karaoke? Well, one record-breaking group of singers loved it enough to sing along to their favorite tunes for a week straight.
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