Remembering Isaac Lightburn, Creator of OpenKJ

I wanted to take a moment to remember Isaac Lightburn, the creator of OpenKJ and someone I knew through our shared interest in writing karaoke software.

Thomas Isaac Lightburn passed away at his home in Hermitage, Tennessee, on February 6, 2022. He was 45 years old. Even though some time has passed, I wanted to put down a few words about him and the contribution he made to our little corner of the karaoke world.

I knew Isaac as a fellow developer back in the 2010s. I was working on QUP, and he was working on OpenKJ. He was always a nice guy and willing to talk shop. There aren’t that many people who write karaoke software, so finding someone who understands the work and enjoys talking about it means something.

One memory that sticks with me is talking him into selling TriceraSoft songs through his software. It was an idea we could connect over as developers: letting people get the songs they wanted from within the software they were already using to run their shows. He later carried that idea forward by including the Party Tyme catalog in OpenKJ.

I’m glad that was one small part of our conversations. Isaac did the work of building and developing his software, and it was good to see where he took it.

OpenKJ also reflected his own experience hosting karaoke. The project’s website explains that many of its applications and services began as tools Isaac wrote for his own shows before making them available to everyone else. Much of that work was released as free, open source software. As another developer, I appreciate the time and effort behind that. Something you build to solve your own problem can end up helping people you’ll never meet.

I’ll remember Isaac as someone who was easy to talk to, willing to exchange ideas, and doing something he cared about. I’m grateful we got to know each other through our work.

Rest in peace, Isaac. Thanks for taking the time to talk shop, you were a good guy. I hope you're running a karaoke show in heaven.