Karaoke Forums

Just wondering how many got into this because you were first singer performers; Perhaps loved Singing personally but couldn't make it as a frontman in a band, or  how many of you were musicians and like this activity as a musical interest ?  Question being, how many got into this because of your own musicianship background as opposed to wanting to be DJ's or KJ's because you like music but aren't from a musician/singer-type performing background ?  
A few here were pro musicians, some on the road ie.. Others sing as though they could very well have made a pro-living at it (That are also KJ's)..  Some seem to want to make a few extra bucks and have a second job as a DJ/ KJ yet have little musicianship or recording background...etc..

(Engineers/ soundmen that worked with bands professionally I suppose would qualify as musicians or pros in the music industry too for all intents and purposes of this thread)..

Just wondering how many were pro musicians first, retired, and decided this was a cool compromise and could bring in some money too.  Especially considering bands were phased down years back and this is more interactive musically than the DJ.

If musicianship sparked your interest as a KJ that's what I'm asking

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

I've been a respectable musician all my life and this karaoke job I've been doing for the last two years is a terrible accident I tell ya!!!!!!!!!!

Just kidding about the terrible part. Accident, yes. But I actually love it.

Yep, musician first.  I got into karaoke in the laser disc days.  The bar I was working at as "Entertainment Director" (read: head party animal) auditioned a karaoke machine and the place went nuts.  That was the last time I got paid to play music in that bar.  I still miss that place.

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Okay, who took my pants?

I was running sound & playing in bands since 86, worked in recording studios as well.  Got into karaoke purely accidently.  My parents had bought a LaserKaraoke machine for home, they were going out singing almost every night karaoke in 89-90 - karaoke places were JUST starting to pop up, one was still using cassette & printed lyric sheets.  Anyway, I had turned 21 in 89 & they brought me out to one of their haunts.  This place used laserdiscs.  I thought it was a joke, but they really enjoyed it & I enjoyed partying with them so I went out more frequently with them.  Pretty soon me & some of my own friends were just going out to karaoke bars on our own - I still had yet to sing, never had done it except an occasional back up in the bands.  1 night in late 89 I had JUST enough Tequila poppers & it was close to closing time & decided to sing a song.  Nights In White Satin - Moody Blues.  
After that I was hooked singing.  Started hanging out more & more at the less than a handful of karaoke bars there were at the time.  
My parents had rented their home system to one company that we'd follow because they were in a bind & quadruple booked a night with 3 systems.  They did not know how to hook the system up & my parents had me go down & help them out.  They hired me as their 'technical dept.' (roadie).  I set-up/tore down from Seattle to Tacoma.  Made sure all systems were up & going.  In 91 this company eventually split up, they stayed in Seattle area, and I went with the new company back in Tacoma still doing the same thing.  One night my boss threw a curve to me & said Hey you're hosting tonight!  My reply - uh, WHAT!>?!?  At this point I was REALLY shy & did not talk too much to anyone, WHY on Earth would she want me to host.
Anyway I did the night.  Personality opened up like night & day.  Was getting people up singing, getting the whole bar to do syncronized hand clapping, etc.  Mixing wasn't an issue then, we had a stereo receiver & 2 Peavey column speakers running the mics through the player - real high tech!  
Anyway, we lost the club the next day - no explanation why.

So a couple weeks went by, she did it to me again.  Same thing, even brought a gal celebrating her birthday up & sat her down in the staging area & sang Sixteen Candles to her.  Great night!  We lost the club the next day - again no believable explanation!  Starting to get a complex now.  
I figured maybe I was too high energy, so low & be hold she did it again to me.  I toned my actions down quite a bit & did the show more low keyed.  We got a call the next day saying that if the host from last  night (me) is going to be that boring, then they would find another company.  I went back to my high energy ways & we kept the club - this was in 92, guess where I still am!?!?  The company I was working with actually got fired from the club in 94 due to the boos lying to the club manager & placing blame on her hosts rather than herself for forgetting to show up for the show.  They still wanted me, I told them I would do it but would need a month off to allow for time to go by.  They hired another company for that month & I went in Oct. 94 under my own company.  Have done several other clubs as well with the mobile systems - had 3 systems working 5 nights at one point, but eventually sold those systems off & focus on the primary now days.

Gave the band up in 03 when I developed carpaltunnel in my left hand.  Still run sound here & there.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

grew up as a keyboard player and singer in a band ===then someone invented karaoke YEAAAH

I never sang a note beyond Happy Birthday and Christmas carols until 3 years ago. When I did sing (5 times a year for half-an-hour, at most) people would say something like "you have a pretty good voice".  I never sang in chorus in school, and though I acted in musicals I always had a non-singing part.

I had quit smoking for about a year one time, and during that period I did  one of my infrequent stints (once a year) singing around the piano at a party. My father's best friend said to me "I didn't know you had such a good voice", despite the fact he had sang next to me for about the previous 10 years. I did realize my voice was stronger because of not smoking. Of course I forgot about it, and started smoking again.

I don't drink, and I don't (or didn't) go to bars. So I had never seen karaoke before 3 years ago, and I think I only vaguely knew it existed. My wife and I got up and did "These Boots...", and "Born To Be Wild" and had a good time. Right about then we had gotten into singing Xmas carols a bit more, and so when I quit smoking I decided I would take up singing as a new hobby to give me an incentive to stay quit.

There are few things more dangerous than a middle-aged man with a new hobby. So now I have enough equipment to run three karaoke shows, and I host gigs. I am an amateur, I guess, but I have people tell me I do the best show in my area.

So I am a non-musician, and really a non-singer. But I love it, and my singing keeps improving every time out.

Have been a singer my entire life - in fact, started singing 2-3-4 part harmony as a youngster. Did semi-pro stuff for years on stage, including singing and dancing, and coming up with choreography; did musical theater, and sang in big groups but not as a solo singer. Have done backup singing for years, which is my preference to solo work. It was a natural extension of my love for singing. Still do studio work and love to sing harmony with singers.  Do sound for hubby's band by default. Have an ear for it, I guess. It's all a big learning process.

k

I got into this "racket" because I need something to do when I retire and my wife was/is convinced I can (eventually) do it better.  And the challenge of doing something better has always been a driving factor in my life.

I have played woodwinds and sung in bands (standards and pop) at hotels and bugalow colonies in the Catskill Mountains, New York during summers (think Dirty Dancing).  Played private parties (weddings, bar mitzvahs, sweet sixteens).  I haven't played in a band in at least 12 years now.  If someone has a catered divorce and offers the gig to me, I might consider doing that; otherwise, I'm done with the rehearsing and differences of artistic opinions.

Oh, almost forgot.  I sang four-part harmony on the streets of Brooklyn, more accurately in alleys, subways, building lobbies looking for an echo.  Sometimes even with people who have sung on records you've heard (if you're my age).  And of course, there was the stint in HS choir and symphonic band.  And let's not, yeah let's do forget the Army band and chorus.  

Personally, I like Lon's story better... it has a "crescendo" (it grew and evolved).  And in life so many people have found themselves where they are today via "accidents" such as Lon experienced. And I don't know about you, but I love surprises.

How I got into this:

Well I guess it started back in the early 80's.  I loved to sing, but moreover just loved music.  When my dad and I went out driving, he'd put mixtapes on that he'd made for me - and tell me about the song, the artists, the story behind it.  I never had "kiddie music" tapes - he just made me "good music" tapes.  I am REALLY thankful to him for this.

So on holiday I decided to sing "Obla Di Obla Da" with the hotel band (I was about 5).  Lord only knows why, but I'd been singing it at school I think, and just did that kid thing of "I want to...".  The reaction, people cheering and clapping me?  Loved it.

Long period of my life when I said and did nothing in public - was massively bullied and retreated into my shell.  Not a problem because my my university days I had dealt with such issues and moved on.

Then met my fiancee.  We went to a karaoke night every Wednesday.  Loved it, and became the annoying croud that are always first there, always buying the KJ drinks - annoying but ultimately useful on a quiet night.  Then we started going to more...

Then one year my mate decided he wanted karaoke at his birthday.  I said I'd do it - my parents had a JVC player, amp and speakers - nothing impressive but usable.  And it grew from there - doing it for my own parties, buying equipment, doing more parties for "drinks and a laugh".

Then last year a friend bought a local pub.  He needed a KJ - his brother usually did it, but was booked elsewhere.  I said "If nothing else, I can do, but I'm not a KJ".  So I DJ'd and KJ'd new years eve.  I was amazed - not only by how people seem to respect a DJ/KJ, but also about how people were enjoying it - I seemed to be able to do no wrong.  New Years Eve and I was just being daft and playing all the cheesy dance tunes - and people loved it.  I got 3 bookings off that one night - still in shock.  Then I got paid a very nice sum of money - whereas I was expecting free drinks and a pat on the back for helping a mate out.

We had a chat the next day while nursing sore heads.  He convinced me to heavily invest in myself (offerd to put his money up!!) - which I did.  And now I seem to be a KJ - who knew?

I have good equipment, I have invested in a good selection but still feel like I'm a hobbyist pretending to be a KJ.  I wonder whether I'm just a token gesture.  Then I realise that people are trusting me to DJ/KJ their weddings, birthdays, etc and are willing to part with mony for it.  I still don't get it - I am being paid to do something I enjoy, and morevoer people seem to enjoy me doing it!?  I had no ego about 12 months ago, now this has all kicked off I am loving it.

I played in bands for years.  Last group was a cowboy band.  We dressed as old time cowboys and played in western shows.  I have a lot of old peavy stuff from the 70's and eightes so it was easy to convert over to Karaoke.  I was eating at a cooks steakhouse one night and they had karaoke.  That got me hooked.  While the cost of the discs were a bit expensive running karaoke solo sure beats splitting two or three hundred bucks four ways with other band members.

I have enjoyed reading the posts here although I have to admit I'm a little amazed at the size of the amps some of you kj's  use in your powered mixers.  I've gotten a lot of useful tips here.

I was a heavy metal bass player since i was 15. unfortunately I never really learned to play . well I never learned the music part of it. never found a band where all partys wanted more than to party ect ect. so I started doing production work (sound an lights) for local bands. A good friend was in karaoke and bands. I just followed and bought him out when he got sick of karaoke.

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the voices arent real, but they have some good ideas

had never sung till karaoke came along...never knew I could...went from attending karaoke at my local pub once or twice a week, to running it when the KJ left town. I freely admit I dont have the temperament to make a good kj. I am totally anal over equipment (even if its not mine) and hate seeing it abused by drunks, plus I dye my hair red as a direct reflection of the volatility of my nature.

After I met my husband and we decided to get together, with him being a singer/trumpet/harmonica player we decided to do a duet thing. We used midi files played from an old 486 computer with a yamaha xg daughterboard atop the soundcard (have never heard midis sound as good since, even when being played via keyboard) after that I discovered that cdgs were the way to go with backing vocals etc...so I used to rip them to the computer and simply burn the backing music to disc in sets...next step I switched to a used pentium II running 2k and ripped into the lappy and discovered that the data part of the rip actually did have some uses...before I quit the 486 completely I recorded some of the best midis in real time from the 486 to the mixer, from mixer to the laptop. No graphics but a decent sounding backing nonetheless.

End result is I am lazy as hell and no longer learn music by heart I just rely upon a tiny little window on my laptop screen that prompts me with words...beats the hell outta typing up song lyrics

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

I have played guitar and been a singer since '56 or '57. I got a renewed interest when Karaoke started around here. I have been in it eversince.

This is my latest creation

I am also into painting........

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I'm Not Dead yet...... But every day Im getting Closer !

That is not a guitar - that is a work of art

All my life I have sang in public never professionaly just at jam sessions. At a band I was more more interested in dancing and partying. I guesss you could say I have done karaoke all my life. We have sang in bars with a few instruments many times. This was more prevalent over in europe.

My last real job was in a call center and we were doing phone tech support for prodigy.  They closed that call center and we got a few thousand dollars in severance pay. I went on soc sec and put together  a bare bones system to supplement income. I havnt supplemented it much for I put most of the money back in cd's and updating the system..

Although I have always enjoyed singing I have never been the hard core karaoke type but have spent many hours doing it. It is not imperative that I knock the audience dead everytime for most of the time I am doing something new. I do it for the pure pleasure of releasing emotions. Then at other times I need that magic with the crowd and sing one of my sigs and totally connect with everybody. Those times are very special.. Singing is only a part of the whole package.

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Hi everyone, I have never been in a band or ever thought I would be doing this one night at a bar with karaoke after several drinks I told my wife if they had an old george jones song I would try to sing it. (thinking there was no way they had a song that old) Low and behold I sang the song and the whole next week I couldn't stop thinking about how much fun it was. then after attending several shows I started researching epuipment. six months later we were running our own gig after almost two years we are still having good times. and i still love the natural buzz of seeing everyone getting up singing and having a good time. especially the first timers because I can still remember well that feeling afterwards.

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I'll be alright as long as there's light from a neon moon

Since this has kind of turned into a story thread I'll throw out mine.

Throughout the 1990s I was in a weekend band and would do Thursday nights by myself in whatever bar would put up with me. Very casual and low key. Mostly with friends. I would sing, and several of them would sing with me accompanying them.

A couple of attractive women started coming in and asked me if I had ever thought about incorporating karaoke into the night. I'd never been to a karaoke bar so they took me to the one they went to the most. This would have been around 2001.

The guy was using laser discs and I thought that's the way it was done. But he straightened me out and told me about CDGs. So I bought a JVC player, the Supercore set, and a few other discs. The PA and mics I already had set up.

This bar closed in 2005 (the owner lost her lease... a long story) and I was just going to hang Thursdays up. But the Thursday regulars kept saying that I should find another bar because they missed it. Finally a few months later one of them set me up in the place she worked. I really wasn't looking to do Thursdays again, but knew the owner and she agreed to take it on.

This time the old routine didn't work. The place was on the other side of town, and the regulars never were comfortable there. But there was this group from the previous place, younger than the rest of us, who would come in and sing just about everything off the Best Of 2001-2003 Supercore discs. They loved the new place and started bringing others from their age group with them.

After dropping my part of the show and going totally karaoke 6-8 weeks in, and focusing on contemporary non-country (there was already a well established country and oldies karaoke bar locally), the room just exploded on Thursday nights. No one else doing it like that in the area. On any night.

My own kids had no idea what I was doing and actually learned about it from their friends.  It was funny watching each of them witness the Thursday zoo for the first time. The only time that they've been together in my bar was the first night with the new computer system the oldest put together for me. My avatar was taken by another singer that night and I swapped it off her myspace page.  

I have no idea how long I'm going to do this but it's fun right now.

Why I became a KJ and being a musician are two different things for me. Yes I was a professional Tuba player and sang in a band for years, but what got me into karaoke was a pushy friend.  LMAO

A friend of mine was a burnt out KJ looking to have me just fill in for him. Next thing I knew I was taking over his business. He bugged me for a few yrs before I finally gave in and said yes. I have him to thank because I would have never even given it consideration otherwise.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

I've been a guitar player since I was 11 years old (31 years and counting-still in a band), but never thought of myself as a singer.

Then I sang karaoke a few times and got hooked.

After a few years of watching my favorite KJ, I had the audacity to think, "hey, I could do that!" I bought a hokey "karaoke amp", a couple of 15" speakers, a player, mics, etc. Then I started buying all the cds I could. After I had about 2000 songs, I convinced a bar owner that I was a "professional", and got a gig. I never interned or trained with anyone, just watched KJs in action. I learned almost everything the hard way, with no experience running sound, public speaking or anything. Many hard lessons later-- and LOTS of time lurking on the karaoke forums-- I now consider myself pretty good at it. Enough so to be doing it full time with 4 different bars and even an employee

I would never encourage anyone to do what I did. I had a goal of making this my career, and I eventyally made it happen, but not without A LOT of hardships that could have been avoided had I been properly trained from the start. Without the help of the fantastic people here on this forum, it would have been even harder.

By the way, even though it was singing that got me interested in this business, I almost NEVER sing anymore (maybe a few songs a month). I now have more fun watching others, and helping them sound as good as possible.

Oooh....Ooooohh My turn!!

I started out as someone that couldn't carry a tune. I was brought to a karaoke bar by  friend that was bitten by the bug and wanted us to come see how good he could sing. The hostess really pushed, and by the end of the night I tried "Brown Eyed Girl". I didn't think it was that good, but she convinced me to sing it again the following week. After a few mnths, I added "Wild, Wild, West!" by the Escape Club, and for 2 years, that was the limit of what I sang, but I went EVERY WEEK.

Skip a few years, and I became a regular at a new bar. I became very friendly with the hostess, and eventually started helping her load her car at the end of the night. I was so curious, finally she took me behind the controls, and started showing me how to cue up and do some sound. This freed her up to flirt and be friendly, while I ran the equip. When she took a vacation, it was my 1st shot at solo hosting, but it was my home bar, so everyone knew me, and it went smoothly.

Skip ahead. She had another 'roadie' too. He went out and got his own equipment. I found his shows since she was out of business. I started helping him too, and one day he had a bad motorcycle accident. I stepped up and took over his 3 shows for 6 months. When he got back he suggested I get my own equipment.

I talked to a few friends, one backed me, and off I went. I have been hosting ever since. I have had the ups and downs, and still enjoy. Sometimes tho, it is fun to just go to another persons show and be a singer. Altho I am constantly fighting the urge to help the hosts.....right Eric?

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