Sketman John. Biography of the musician

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

John Paul Larkin, better known as Sketman John, is an American musician with a unique performing style that combines dance music and sket vocal technique. The artist's most famous compositions are the song "Skatman (ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop)" and "Scatman's World", which became hits in 1997.

Sketman John's recordings have sold millions of copies around the world. At the same time, he received the prestigious Echo`s World Music Award for "Best New Artist" in Japan and Germany.

Biography

Sketman John was born in California. He suffered from severe stuttering since childhood. At the age of 12, he began learning to play the piano and was first introduced to the vocal technique called sket by listening to recordings by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

Tool became forboy's way of self-expression. He preferred to communicate with people through music - play more and talk less.

In the 1970s Scatman John (who was then known as John Larkin) became known in professional circles as a brilliant pianist. He was often invited to perform in jazz clubs in Los Angeles and nearby communities.

First entries

In 1981, jazz saxophonist Sam Phipps invited John to play keyboards on his album "Animal sounds". This record was the first work of Sketman, which received wide acclaim.

After 5 years, Transition released their first solo album. His name consisted of his true first and last name - "John Larkin". The producer of this disc was the artist himself.

Original style

In 1990, Larkin moved to Germany. He continued to give numerous jazz concerts and listened to a lot of this style of music in his spare time. It was in Germany that he first decided to add several songs to his repertoire (earlier, the musician performed only instrumental compositions).

Having made this decision, John sang the jazz standard "On the sunny side of the street" at one of his concerts to a standing ovation from the audience. The audience gave a standing ovation to the debutant.

In his vocal numbers, John used a technique called "sket". This is the name of singing without words with imitation of the sound of various instruments. The performer instead of the text pronounces meaninglesssyllables. At the same time, the artist usually uses his voice more as a musical instrument than a means of transmitting information.

Nickname

An employee of Iceberg records (Denmark) offered John to combine the "sket" vocal technique with modern dance music and hip-hop. At first, Larkin did not like this idea and refused.

The singer was afraid that the audience would realize that he suffers from a stutter. Then his wife Judy advised him to sing about it. Soon he recorded his first hit "Scatman…".

After the release of the single, the artist began performing under the pseudonym Sketman John.

Global Glory

In 1995, when the singer turned 53 years old, the music of Sketman John conquered the whole world. His debut single climbed to the top of the charts in many countries. The total number of discs sold was six million copies. The song "Scatman's world" peaked at number 10 in the UK. The clips of Sketman John, filmed for these two songs, received great fame.

Inspired by success, the artist recorded his debut album, which was also warmly received by his army of fans.

After finishing work on the record, the singer went on a concert tour of Europe and Asia. Recalling his performance in Spain, Scatman John said: "The audience was screaming so hard that I couldn't start another song for five minutes."

In 1996, the second album of Sketman was releasedJohn "Everybody jam!", which failed to repeat the European success of its predecessor. However, the singer was still very popular in Japan. In this country, even Coca-Cola cans were decorated with his photographs.

Death

In early 1998, Scatman John was diagnosed with lung cancer. Despite the doctors' ban, he continued to work hard on recording new songs. In June 1999, the artist recorded his fourth and final album. After that, he went on a tour of 24 cities in the United States of America.

During a performance on November 26, 1999 in Cleveland, the singer fainted. The concert had to be cancelled. The artist was placed in the hospital of this city, where his condition returned to normal. A week later, John returned home to Los Angeles. Even during his illness, Sketman did not become discouraged, saying: "Everything the Lord does is good for me. I have lived a very good life." The singer died in December 1999.