John Larkin
March 13th, 1942 - December 3rd, 1999
Judy Larkin
January 19th, 1940 - January 28th, 2023
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20000823205208/http://www.scatmanjohn.com/info/bio.htm
When John Paul Larkin was born in El Monte, California, on Friday the 13th of March 1942, nobody could ever have guessed what impact on the world the following 57 years would bring. A love of the piano and the fruition of a unique talent, a long and weary tread down the roads of drug addiction and alcohism, a lifelong stutter, and the creation of a dynamic, record-breaking musical project loved the world over in the form of "Scatman John". But HOW?
"Coincidence has always helped me", John said in 1995. Incidentally, John's life seems to be a mix of talent, luck, and coincidence.
Firstly, John was born a stutterer. He recalled he "couldn't remember ever being fluent", and often mentioned the fact that he had stuttered ever since he had started talking. John once said that he thought of scat-singing as his first language... and that as his mother held him in her arms as a baby, he would babble simple tunes. The foundations were laid for the discovery of John's talent - music. Specifically, the piano... and Jazz.
As a child, growing up in a nearby Californian district of El Sereno, John used to pretend to play piano on his mother's coffee table, until he got his own at the age of 12. He seemed to be hooked from the start. At 14, John heard Ella Fitzgerald scat-singing on a song called 'How High the Moon'. This song, he said, stole his heart. It was his introduction to scat-singing, and to Jazz - along with the likes of trumpeter Louis Armstrong, Stan Getz, John Coltrane, Art Pepper and Bud Shanks... musicians John was influenced by from an early age. "I remember wanting to play like them". The piano became his "outlet for expression"...
"Playing piano gave me a way to speak", said John in a 1996 interview. "I hid behind the piano because I was scared of talking." John's stuttering problem made his childhood "traumatic", and the consequences began to unfold. John took his first drink at 14, and realising it made him "feel better"... the problem escalated. By the time he was 18, John was playing piano in a band doing gigs around Southern California with two other guys from his college, and drinking had become a regular part of his life.
John became the professional Jazz pianist he always wanted to be. After "playing almost every Jazz club in Los Angeles", John's personal life was becoming unbearable. He had moved onto drugs and his alcoholism still had a hold on him. "I wanted so much just to be somebody", he said. "I had such great feelings of inferiority. I was depleted... physically, mentally, spiritually."
In 1984, John was still playing Jazz, and had joined up and recorded with Joe Farrell - a saxophonist who also failed to control his own drug problem. Farrell died in his 40's in 1987... and that was the year John decided, at the age of 45, "enough is enough". Admitting he was "totally defeated" by drugs and alcohol, John made the decision to get himself cleaned up.
After getting dry and sober, John still persued a career as a Jazz pianist. He added singing to his act after getting standing ovations in several of his performances. He also married Judy... who John said made him feel "utterly complete". "She made me feel like I was enough." He also reflected that upon their meeting, she had said to him: "You have talent... I'm going to make something out of you." It was Judy who directed and supported John when they both made a move in 1990 to further John's career. "I came home one night and said to Judy - 'let's get out of here'. So we packed our bags, rented out our condominium, and moved to Berlin."
John began playing on Cruise ships and in various bars and clubs around Germany, gigs secured by his agent - Manfred Zahringer. Manfred tried for a couple of years to get John on a Jazz record, knowing he was talented at scat-singing - a Jazz art form constituting improvising a melody using random syllables and noises. John found it easy because of his stuttering - he said both "came real close". He also had the rare ability to sing up to four notes at a time. But somehow, it was never picked up.
One day Manfred suggested the idea of combining John's scat-singing technique with modern dance, pop, techno, and urban rap. John said he'd try anything, yet said "Yeah right. It'll never work." BMG Hamburg supported the idea, and John was sent off to work with two dance producers - Tony Catania and Ingo Kays, and spent 6 hours in a recording studio. He chose the stage name "Scatman John"... and they made the first single...
The Scatman "image" became the now infamous hat, moustache, and suit. John's main fear was the world discovering he stuttered. Judy suggested he talk about stuttering in the lyrics to the first song - 'Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)', and intended for it to inspire kids - resulting in "if the Scatman can do it, so can you".
The single was released in Europe, and sales were slow to begin with. John remembered watching it week by week, and recalls saying time and time again, "It won't climb any higher." Then it escalated to amazing proportions. It became number one in almost every country it was released in, selling over 6 million copies to date.
Mildly shocked by his sudden launch into success, John decided that "Scatman" could be used as a vehicle to help others. He wrote lyrics dealing with overcoming adversity, accepting yourself as you are, and finding peace in a crazy world - all relating back to John's own experience. He became an advocate and hero within the stuttering community, and earned several awards for his contribution to stutterers around the world... even setting up a foundation to aid stutterers. His second single, 'Scatman's World' had similar success, and his debut album of the same name holds the world record for being sold in more countries than any other during 1995 and 1996 and started outselling established artists such as Bon Jovi and Michael Jackson in some corners of the world.
During his career, John sold over 20 million records worldwide, and went 15 times gold and 18 times platinum. He has countless 'awards to his credit, including 'Artist of the Year' awards from Germany and Japan, the MTV award for Best Male Artist, and Europe's Goldena Award. Despite all this, John remained down-to-Earth and level headed, probably because fame came to him at the age of 52 and he'd "got his priorities sorted".
John's main ambition was always to help others, and for those who knew him and for his fans around the world, he became a hero and icon, helping people through his music and when he could, on an individual basis.
After releasing over 15 successful singles and two hit albums, John's third album - "Take Your Time" was released in 1999. Nobody could have guessed it was his parting gift to the world. John's health had started to trouble him from 1998, but it was put down to his workload and suspecting heart trouble, John was told to take it easy. Yet he still finished recording new material into 1999. In that same year John was diagnosed with lung cancer. John's uplifting attitude never faded. Commenting that he had "the very best life", John went through intensive treatment and remained positive, saying "whatever God wants is fine by me". Sadly, John's condition worsened... and after a long battle, John died on the evening of the 3rd of December at his home in Los Angeles. During that week, the shocked world gradually learned it had lost a much-loved and talented hero, inspiration and friend.
"Coincidence has always helped me", John said in 1995. Incidentally, John's life seems to be a mix of talent, luck, and coincidence.
Firstly, John was born a stutterer. He recalled he "couldn't remember ever being fluent", and often mentioned the fact that he had stuttered ever since he had started talking. John once said that he thought of scat-singing as his first language... and that as his mother held him in her arms as a baby, he would babble simple tunes. The foundations were laid for the discovery of John's talent - music. Specifically, the piano... and Jazz.
As a child, growing up in a nearby Californian district of El Sereno, John used to pretend to play piano on his mother's coffee table, until he got his own at the age of 12. He seemed to be hooked from the start. At 14, John heard Ella Fitzgerald scat-singing on a song called 'How High the Moon'. This song, he said, stole his heart. It was his introduction to scat-singing, and to Jazz - along with the likes of trumpeter Louis Armstrong, Stan Getz, John Coltrane, Art Pepper and Bud Shanks... musicians John was influenced by from an early age. "I remember wanting to play like them". The piano became his "outlet for expression"...
"Playing piano gave me a way to speak", said John in a 1996 interview. "I hid behind the piano because I was scared of talking." John's stuttering problem made his childhood "traumatic", and the consequences began to unfold. John took his first drink at 14, and realising it made him "feel better"... the problem escalated. By the time he was 18, John was playing piano in a band doing gigs around Southern California with two other guys from his college, and drinking had become a regular part of his life.
John became the professional Jazz pianist he always wanted to be. After "playing almost every Jazz club in Los Angeles", John's personal life was becoming unbearable. He had moved onto drugs and his alcoholism still had a hold on him. "I wanted so much just to be somebody", he said. "I had such great feelings of inferiority. I was depleted... physically, mentally, spiritually."
In 1984, John was still playing Jazz, and had joined up and recorded with Joe Farrell - a saxophonist who also failed to control his own drug problem. Farrell died in his 40's in 1987... and that was the year John decided, at the age of 45, "enough is enough". Admitting he was "totally defeated" by drugs and alcohol, John made the decision to get himself cleaned up.
After getting dry and sober, John still persued a career as a Jazz pianist. He added singing to his act after getting standing ovations in several of his performances. He also married Judy... who John said made him feel "utterly complete". "She made me feel like I was enough." He also reflected that upon their meeting, she had said to him: "You have talent... I'm going to make something out of you." It was Judy who directed and supported John when they both made a move in 1990 to further John's career. "I came home one night and said to Judy - 'let's get out of here'. So we packed our bags, rented out our condominium, and moved to Berlin."
John began playing on Cruise ships and in various bars and clubs around Germany, gigs secured by his agent - Manfred Zahringer. Manfred tried for a couple of years to get John on a Jazz record, knowing he was talented at scat-singing - a Jazz art form constituting improvising a melody using random syllables and noises. John found it easy because of his stuttering - he said both "came real close". He also had the rare ability to sing up to four notes at a time. But somehow, it was never picked up.
One day Manfred suggested the idea of combining John's scat-singing technique with modern dance, pop, techno, and urban rap. John said he'd try anything, yet said "Yeah right. It'll never work." BMG Hamburg supported the idea, and John was sent off to work with two dance producers - Tony Catania and Ingo Kays, and spent 6 hours in a recording studio. He chose the stage name "Scatman John"... and they made the first single...
The Scatman "image" became the now infamous hat, moustache, and suit. John's main fear was the world discovering he stuttered. Judy suggested he talk about stuttering in the lyrics to the first song - 'Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)', and intended for it to inspire kids - resulting in "if the Scatman can do it, so can you".
The single was released in Europe, and sales were slow to begin with. John remembered watching it week by week, and recalls saying time and time again, "It won't climb any higher." Then it escalated to amazing proportions. It became number one in almost every country it was released in, selling over 6 million copies to date.
Mildly shocked by his sudden launch into success, John decided that "Scatman" could be used as a vehicle to help others. He wrote lyrics dealing with overcoming adversity, accepting yourself as you are, and finding peace in a crazy world - all relating back to John's own experience. He became an advocate and hero within the stuttering community, and earned several awards for his contribution to stutterers around the world... even setting up a foundation to aid stutterers. His second single, 'Scatman's World' had similar success, and his debut album of the same name holds the world record for being sold in more countries than any other during 1995 and 1996 and started outselling established artists such as Bon Jovi and Michael Jackson in some corners of the world.
During his career, John sold over 20 million records worldwide, and went 15 times gold and 18 times platinum. He has countless 'awards to his credit, including 'Artist of the Year' awards from Germany and Japan, the MTV award for Best Male Artist, and Europe's Goldena Award. Despite all this, John remained down-to-Earth and level headed, probably because fame came to him at the age of 52 and he'd "got his priorities sorted".
John's main ambition was always to help others, and for those who knew him and for his fans around the world, he became a hero and icon, helping people through his music and when he could, on an individual basis.
After releasing over 15 successful singles and two hit albums, John's third album - "Take Your Time" was released in 1999. Nobody could have guessed it was his parting gift to the world. John's health had started to trouble him from 1998, but it was put down to his workload and suspecting heart trouble, John was told to take it easy. Yet he still finished recording new material into 1999. In that same year John was diagnosed with lung cancer. John's uplifting attitude never faded. Commenting that he had "the very best life", John went through intensive treatment and remained positive, saying "whatever God wants is fine by me". Sadly, John's condition worsened... and after a long battle, John died on the evening of the 3rd of December at his home in Los Angeles. During that week, the shocked world gradually learned it had lost a much-loved and talented hero, inspiration and friend.