Shoji Tabuchi - Family

Family

Mary Jo, a patron at a financial-district restaurant where Tabuchi played for tips, became his first wife in 1968, after which he became an American citizen. They moved to Kansas City, and Tabuchi began performing at the Starlite Club in nearby Riverside. In 1974 the couple had a son, Shoji John Tabuchi. Tabuchi began performing at venues in Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma, but his marriage broke up under the pressure of his constant touring.

After moving to Branson, Missouri in 1980, he met his second wife, Dorothy Lingo, after she attended several of his shows at the Starlite Theater; and he became the stepfather to her two children from a previous marriage. Currently Lingo helps with numerous aspects of the Shoji Tabuchi Show such as choreography, costumes, and the theater's interior design. Tabuchi is sometimes accompanied by his daughter, Christina, who performs part time in Branson and part time in Nashville and other locales. One son, Thomas Jason Lingo-Tabuchi, died at the age of 19. There is a scholarship in his name at a Branson school music department.