John Paul Larkin , better known by his stage name Scatman John, was an American musician who created a fusion of scat singing and dance music, best known for his 1995 hit "Scatman ". A stutterer, Larkin stated that scatting was "turning my biggest problem into my biggest asset". Scatman John sold millions of recordings worldwide and was named "Best New Artist" in the Echo Awards in both Japan and Germany. He was a recipient of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's Annie Glenn Award for outstanding service to the stuttering community and National Stuttering Association Hall of... Fame. Born in El Monte, California, Larkin suffered from a severe stutter since his beginning of speech which led to an emotionally traumatic childhood. Even at the peak of his success in 1995, journalists reported that during interviews he “hardly finishes a sentence without repeating the phrase at least six or seven times.” At age twelve he began to learn piano, and was introduced to the art of scat singing at the age of fourteen through records by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, amongst others.
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| Birthdate: | March 13, 1942 |
| Birthplace: | El Monte, California |
| Date of death: | December 3, 1999 |
| Also known as: | Scatman John, John Scatman, スキャットマン・ジョン |