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Scatman John
After working as a jazz pianist for the better part of two decades, John Paul
Larkin rebranded himself as Scatman John, a scat-singing dance artist whose
biggest hit — the mid-'90s single "Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)" — topped the
charts in 11 different countries. He was born in El Monte, California, on March
13, 1942, and grew up with a debilitating stutter. Turning to jazz music as a
means of expression, he moved to Los Angeles and began playing in piano clubs
throughout the 1970s and 1980s. After releasing a debut album, John Larkin,
under his birth name in 1986, he moved ...
