Ikutaro Kakehashi
Ikutaro Kakehashi (梯 郁太郎, Kakehashi Ikutarō, 7 February 1930 – 1 April 2017), also known by the nickname Taro,[1] was a Japanese engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur. He founded the musical instrument manufacturers Ace Tone, Roland Corporation, and Boss Corporation, and the audiovisual electronics company ATV Corporation.
Ikutaro Kakehashi
7 February 1930
1 April 2017 (aged 87)
Japanese
Engineer, entrepreneur
1947–2017
Kakehashi founded Ace Tone in 1960 to produce electronic organs and early drum machines. He founded Roland in 1972 and was involved in the development of various influential electronic instruments, such as the TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines and the TB-303 and Juno-60 synthesizers, in addition to Boss guitar amplifiers and effects pedals. He was also key to the development of MIDI, a technical standard that connects a wide variety of electronic instruments, in the 1980s; in 2013, Kakehashi received a Technical Grammy Award, shared with Dave Smith of Sequential, for the invention of MIDI. Kakehashi's inventions are credited with shaping popular music genres such as electronic, dance, hip hop, R&B, rock and pop music.[2][1][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
Early life[edit]
Kakehashi was born on 7 February 1930 in Osaka, Japan.[2] His parents died of tuberculosis during his early childhood,[11] and he was raised by his grandparents.[2] Much of his childhood was spent studying electrical engineering and working in the Hitachi shipyards of Osaka.[11] During World War II, with no music lessons, Kakehashi became interested in radio as a way of listening to music,[2] and his home was destroyed by American bombing.[2] Following the war, in 1946, he failed to get into a university on health grounds, and moved to the southern island of Kyushu.[11]
Death[edit]
Kakehashi died in April 2017, aged 87.[6][35][10] Tributes came from musicians such as Tommy Snyder of Godiego,[36] Chris Carter of Throbbing Gristle,[36] Samantha Ronson, Matthew Herbert, Marc Almond of Soft Cell, Martyn Ware of the Human League, and producer Paul Epworth.[1] Moog Music described him as a "model of resilience and a genuine trailblazer",[1] and Dave Smith of Sequential wrote that he was "just an amazing man, a good friend, a very good competitor of course, and just innovative continually all that time".[1]