In memory of Scatman John, and also from poor loops/volume, here are his songs, how he was famous, and why he died.
Born in El Monte, California, he suffered from a severe stutter "since [he] started talking", 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 12 he began to learn piano, and was introduced to the art of scat singing at 14 through records by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, amongst others. The piano provided him with a means of artistic expression to compensate for his speech difficulties. He remarked in a 1996 interview that "playing piano gave me a way to speak... I hid behind the piano because I was scared of talking."
Tl;dr - He had a bad childhood due to stuttering and learned scat singing and piano at 12-14.
John Paul Larkin, (March 13, 1942 — December 3, 1999), better known as Scatman John, was a famous stuttering jazz musician who created a unique fusion of scat singing and techno, best known for his 1994 hit "Scatman (Ski Ba Bop Ba Dop Bop)". As he liked to say, this was a process of "turning my biggest problem into my biggest asset." He received 14 golds and 18 platinums for his albums and singles. He died of lung cancer at his home in Los Angeles, California at the age of 57.
Tl;dr - He was known as Scatman, who made a mix of scatting and techno and had great songs.
He died of lung cancer when he was 57.
"Hi everybody...Scatman John here.
I want to thank all of you for joining me in Scatman's World.
I need to tell you something... We all have a choice.
We can either be part of the problem, or part of the solution.
I invite ALL of you to come and join me, and be part of
Scatman's World, and be part of the solution.
And how do we be part of the solution?
By learning to love and accept ourselves - exactly as we are."
Tl;dr - Scatman's telling you to accept yourself the way you are.
He became a professional jazz pianist in the 1970s and '80s, playing many gigs in jazz clubs around Los Angeles. In 1986, he released the self-titled album John Larkin on the Transition label, copies of which are now extremely scarce. He claimed to have "hundreds of them lying around in [his] closet at home". Around this time alcoholism and drug addiction were also beginning to take a hold of his life. When fellow musician and friend Joe Farrell, who also had a drug problem, died in 1986, Larkin decided to beat his habits. He eventually did so, largely with the help of his new wife Judy, also a recovering alcoholic. "You have talent", she told him. "I'm going to make something out of you".
Tl;dr - He was a pro jazz pianist around L.A. Also, he was becoming a drug and alcohol addict, which his wife helped with.
So, that is Scatman's story. What a great man he was, huh?
Now for his remarkable songs. =D
NOTE: I will be taking songs requested, as I do not have all the "good" songs yet.Okay, here's the link so far, extract the files to your Blockland directory. Yep, that's it!
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?zmyqytz0mhqCurrently in the pack are: Everybody Jam!, Only You, Scatman, Scatman's World, Sing Now, and The Invisible Man.