John Paul “Scatman” Larkin

John Larkin, a lifelong stutterer who in middle age turned his speech problem into international fame as “Scatman John,” has died of lung cancer at the age of 57. “I’m a star . . . not although I stutter, but because I stutter,” Larkin often told his fans around the world. “Stuttering has paid off!”

“Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)” is a song by American Eurodance musician Scatman John. It was released in November 1994 as a single, and was later re-released in June 1996 for his second album, Scatman’s World. The song is described as “a blend of jazz scatting, rap, and house beats”.

1995

Deceased (1942–1999)

Larkin was born in El Monte, California. He suffered from a severe stutter by the time he learned to speak, which led him to an emotionally traumatic childhood.

A stroke, traumatic brain injury, or other brain disorders can cause speech that is slow or has pauses or repeated sounds (neurogenic stuttering). Speech fluency can also be disrupted in the context of emotional distress. Speakers who do not stutter may experience dysfluency when they are nervous or feeling pressured.

American

Scat, also called Scat Singing, in music, jazz vocal style using emotive, onomatopoeic, and nonsense syllables instead of words in solo improvisations on a melody.

Coprophilia (from Greek κόπρος, kópros ‘excrement’ and φιλία, philía ‘liking, fondness’), also called scatophilia or scat (Greek: σκατά, skatá ‘feces’), is the paraphilia involving sexual arousal and pleasure from feces. …

According to all the sources I was able to find, “scat” as a word for feces is first recorded in the 1950’s. It looks to me like it may have been back-formed from “scatology,” which sees usage from the late 1800s, which is in turn derived from the Greek word meaning “dung, feces.”

Ella Fitzgerald is considered to be one of the greatest scat singers in jazz history.

Ella Fitzgerald

Born Lilli Mae Jones in Flint, Michigan, Betty Carter is widely acknowledged as not only one of the best female jazz singers of all time, but as one of the music’s greatest ever scat singers and vocal improvisers – of either sex.

Influential women in jazz

• Ella Fitzgerald. Launching her stellar career in 1935 in the Swing era, Ella Fitzgerald was one of the most influential jazz singers of the 20th century.
• Billie Holiday.
• Sarah Vaughan.
• Nina Simone.
• Toshiko Akiyoshi.
• Carla Bley.
• Irene Schweizer.
• Terri Lyne Carrington.

That’s because in jazz, all roads lead back to one man – Louis Armstrong. Not only one of the best jazz trumpeters of all time, Armstrong was one of the greatest musical improvisers ever and his innovations helped jazz to evolve into what it is today.

Louis Armstrong