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Scatman John

Scatman John   (Germany)

EuroDance group
Added : 24/01/2000
73109
03/12/1999


Scatman's World
Scatman's World
Everybody Jam!
Everybody Jam !
Scatman
Take Your Time
The Best Of Scatman John
Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)
Only You
Scatman's World
Song Of Scatland
Scat Paradise
Su Su Su Super Kirei
Pripri Scat
Megamix
Everybody Jam!
The Invisible Man
Let It Go
Scatmambo (Patricia)
The Chickadee Song
Take Your Time
Ichi Ni San... Go
Take Your Time
Scatman & Hatman
Life is Fantastic
Ichi Ni San... Go
John Larkin
Listen To The Scatman
Listen To The Scatman
85 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Latest Scatman John news

16/04/2022 : A comic book in German, Who's The Scatman, dedicated to Scatman John's biography drawn by Jeff Chi will be published on April 22nd

12/09/2021 : Scatman John's hit Scatman was covered by Wolky

09/06/2021 : The melody of Scatman John's hit Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop) was covered by Alan Walker & Imanbek on their single Sweet Dreams

16/12/2019 : A cover of late Scatman John's mega hit Scatman (ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop) was released by Spookiz

26/07/2019 : Scatman John's hit Scatman (ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop) was covered by Dj Prodigio

18/06/2019 : 20 years after Scatman John passed away, Lou Bega released a virtual duet with him on song Scatman & Hatman.

09/10/2016 : German Schlager singer Michelle sampled parts from Scatman John's hit Scatman on her current single So schön ist die Zeit. Footage from Scatman's original videoclip even appear in Michelle's video.

More news

 

Scatman John albums

Scatman's World Scatman's World 10th Jul 1995
BUY
Scatman's World Scatman's World (Japanese version) 23rd Aug 1995
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Everybody Jam! Everybody Jam! (Japanese Version) 1996
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Everybody Jam ! Everybody Jam ! 25th Nov 1996
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Scatman Scatman 1999
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Take Your Time Take Your Time 1st Jun 1999
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The Best Of Scatman John The Best Of Scatman John 2nd Oct 2002
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Scatman John singles

Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop) Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop) 29th Nov 1994  
BUY
Only You Only You (Japan) 1995  
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Scatman's World Scatman's World 19th Jun 1995  
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Song Of Scatland Song Of Scatland 17th Nov 1995  
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Scat Paradise Scat Paradise (Japan only) 16th Dec 1995  
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Su Su Su Super Kirei Su Su Su Super Kirei 1996  
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Pripri Scat Pripri Scat 1996  
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Megamix Megamix (France only) Apr 1996  
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Everybody Jam! Everybody Jam! 30th Oct 1996  
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The Invisible Man The Invisible Man (on Queen Dance Traxx) Compilation only May 1997  
BUY
Let It Go Let It Go 23rd May 1997  
BUY
Scatmambo (Patricia) Scatmambo (Patricia) 24th Aug 1998  
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The Chickadee Song The Chickadee Song 1999  
BUY
Take Your Time Take Your Time 30th Jun 1999  
BUY
Ichi Ni San... Go Ichi Ni San... Go 23rd Sep 1999  
BUY
Take Your Time Take Your Time 20th Jan 2000  
BUY
Scatman & Hatman Scatman & Hatman (with Lou Bega) 14th Jun 2019  
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Scatman John remixes

Scatman's World Scatman's World 1995  
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Featurings and collaborations

Life is Fantastic Army of Lovers - Life is Fantastic 1995  
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Ichi Ni San... Go Scatman John - Ichi Ni San... Go 23rd Sep 1999  
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Songwriting

Ichi Ni San... Go Scatman John - Ichi Ni San... Go 23rd Sep 1999  
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Aliases - Records released under other names

John Larkin John Larkin - John Larkin (album) 1986  
BUY
Listen To The Scatman John Larkin - Listen To The Scatman 2000  
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Listen To The Scatman John Larkin - Listen To The Scatman (album) 2000  
BUY

 



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Scatman John biography

John Larkin was born on March 13th 1942 in El Monte, California. He was for years content making a living as a singer-pianist in the grand hotels of Europe. End of 1994, everything changed : his unique style of 'scat-rap' took the world by storm. Combining traditional scat singing with a driving dance beat blending dance-pop, hip-hop and jazz influences (he used to work with stars of jazz such as Al Jarreau, Ella Fitzgerald and Charlie Parker), Scatman John reached the top of the European and Japanese charts with the singles Scatman (Ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop) and Scatman's World.

The story of his success begins back in the summer of 1994 when John Larkin (Scatman's real name) was performing at the Alexandra Hotel in Norway. One afternoon, his agent called and proposed the concept of 'scat-rap'. Always game for something new, Larkin spent six hours in a recording studio, unsure what the finished product would sound like. With the help of producers Antonio Catania and Ingo Kays, the first song, Scatman (Ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop), was completed and just weeks later skyrocketed to No. 1 on the Eurochart. The song, which was released in the US as a CD single off RCA Records' Club Cutz dance compilation and can be heard on the soundtrack of the soon-to-be-released Touchstone Pictures film Nothing To Lose starring Tim Robbins and Martin Lawrence, has sold more than two million copies world-wide to date. It was the second most sold single in France for the year 1995.

He sold eight million CD's, has had two No. 1 singles in almost every country in the world, counts 14 gold and 18 platinum records to his credit, and even had his image imprinted upon millions of Coke cans across Europe. Zoot-suited Scatman John exploded on the American music scene with his new single Everybody Jam!, released this summer on Logic Records /BMG. But the did not affect him that much.

Scatman was covered by Boys On Scat, by the Spanish project Gemini and by the Japanese band The Axel Boys Quartet. A feminine version was also done by a project called Scatgirl.

The follow-up single, Scatman's World, was released in 1995 and scanned sales of well over a million copies. The debut album of the same name, released in the summer of 1995, sold more than 3 million copies. Scatman John was given the 'Artist of the Year' award in Japan, has received the Golden Europa award for single sales, the Echo Award in Europe for 'cross-over artist of the year', and an MTV Europe Music Award in the Best Male Artist Category, alongside Michael Jackson, Dr. Dre, Neil Young, and Lenny Kravitz. Scatman-mania has, without a doubt, circled the globe. "At an appearance I did in Spain, the kids screamed for 5 minutes straight, I couldn't start the song," he recounted. "To have young people all over the world going 'ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop' is as good as it gets."

One of Larkin's greatest joys was the impact his music has on impressionable young ears. As someone who has struggled with a stuttering problem since he was a child, Larkin hopes that the Scatman story will encourage young people to never let a perceived problem or disability hold them back. 'I'm the Scatman because I stutter,' he explains. 'In my childhood, I had to find some other way to express myself. As a person who stutters, scatting came along real easy because they are both real close.' Scatman John was recipient of the Annie Glenn Award for outstanding service to the world's stuttering community. 'My greatest problem in my childhood is now my greatest asset,' he continued. 'I'm trying to tell the kids today that Creation gave us all problems for a purpose and that your biggest problems contain a source of strength to not only step over those problems but all our other problems as well.'

He was so popular in Japan that the local superhero Ultraman covered Scatman and became Scatultraman. The song was "A song of love, courage and hope from Ultraman". John also released the song Scat Paradise in Japan only.

On Scatman John's new single Everybody Jam, he turned his attention to his love of jazz, paying respect to his childhood idol Louis Armstrong. 'Here I have the chance to present one of the greatest forces the world of Jazz has known. Since my childhood, Louis was the first and strongest influence on my musical existence. There have been many masters of music, of soul, but for me Louis is the father of them all.'

Once again, producers Catania and Kays were involved in the direction of the second album, also titled Everybody Jam. The renowned Viennese video director Hannes Rossacher and his DoRo team are responsible for the video for Everybody Jam! Fittingly, it was shot on location in New Orleans, the birthplace of Louis Armstrong. 'The day we shot the video was a day beyond all boundaries of time and space. Full of magic. All of the images together created the perfect atmosphere for showing the heart and soul of Louis Armstrong's roots.'

Released during summer 1996 on Logic Records/BMG, the single was jovial, youthful, and a perfect example of Scatman's boundless energy and creativity. Everybody Jam! has also been remixed for the dance floors by famed remix teams Vission & Lorimer and Rhythm Masters for both the 12-inch single and CD-5.

At the same time in Japan, John was everywhere. He made the television circuit usually performing Scatman (Ski Ba Bop Ba Dop Bop) or Everybody Jam!. He was also hired to appear in 2 Japanese commercials, one for a pudding snack (3 spots, featuring the track PriPri Scat) and one for cosmetics (featuring the song Su Su Su Super Kirei). Super Kirei (means "super beautiful") was the second track off this album to spawn a music video. The video showed John in a featureless room riding a mini trike, producing flowers like a magician and dancing around. He was also filmed in a basement and a cgi kitchen. Then Let It Go was also released as a single, although the album version did not feature on it.

His third album Take Your Time, produced by Kai Matthiesen, was released on October 1999. Sadly, it was also be his last, because he died of a cancer the 3rd December of the same year at his home in California. There were no music videos made for any of the tracks on this album owing to John's poor health. Take Your Time was released as a six-track CD-single. Ichi Ni San...Go was released as the follow up. In Japan, The Chickadee Song was released as a double-A-side single. It featured the album version and remix of The Chickadee Song and the album version and 2 remix versions of Take Your Time.

After John's death, the Take Your Time single was re-released. This time it had only 4 tracks and a banner on the cover which mentioned "In Loving Memory Of Scatman John".

2000 : Listen To The Scatman was released. This was an album celebrating the Jazz work of John Larkin, although the last track was a dance track with scatting taken from various different songs on the album. The songs Last Night I Dreamed and Softly As In A Morning Sunrise were taken from the 1986 self-titled John Larkin album. The rest of the album consists of staple Jazz classics. There was a one track CD issued to promote this album. It was Listen To The Scatman, the dance track added to the end of the album.

2003 : DJ Kadozer releases a Scatman Remix, a hard dance mix using samples of the original Scatman (Ski Ba Bop Ba Dop Bop) single.

2009 : Mark'Oh released a cover of Scatman John's Scatman in October

2016 : German Schlager singer Michelle sampled parts from Scatman John's hit Scatman on her single So schön ist die Zeit. Footage from Scatman's original videoclip appeared in Michelle's video.

2019 : Lou Bega released a virtual duet with Scatman John on song Scatman & Hatman. Dj Prodigio covered the song the following month.

Thanks to Nico and Carver
Scatman's Russian website

Scatman John biography was last updated Mon, July 22nd 2019



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DISCLAIMER : unless you see the artist's name among the credits of this biography, it was only created by gathering infos from the web and from fan sources. Sorry if, even if I did all verifications I could, some parts of the biography are false or lack accuracy. Please keep ini mind that I am alone running the site. If you are the artist himself or contributed to the project, please wait till I come back from holidays to submit corrections.



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