FEBRUARY 11 | 6:00pm at The Last Bookstore, Studio City
Gina Waggott presents Scatman John,
in conversation with Daniel Kremer
FEBRUARY 11th | 6:00pm at The Last Bookstore, Studio City
4437 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91602
(parking lot is on the right hand side of the building)
John Larkin – a fast-living, hard-playing, stuttering jazz pianist – overcame abuse, addiction, ageism, and obscurity to stage one of the most improbable debuts in pop music history by turning his greatest pain into his purpose.
At 52, Larkin was a recovering alcoholic and veteran pianist, haunted by shame because of his lifelong stutter. His stutter meant he could scat-sing better than anyone else on the planet, grabbing and firing syllables like bullets – yet he couldn’t even say his own name. But when a small, indie record label took a gamble on an oddball fusion of John’s scat-singing and dance music, his life changed overnight: Scatman John was born. In 1995, his singles “Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)” and “Scatman’s World” shot to #1 across Europe and Asia, turning a man who’d spent his life hiding into a global star. Audiences were captivated by the absurdity and charm of a middle-aged man in a fedora, machine-gunning syllables over a dance beat. But behind the novelty was a deeper story: John’s scat-singing was creative camouflage for his stutter – his music, a last-ditch attempt to survive. When fame finally found him, he chose to reach others who felt broken or silenced, especially stutterers like him, by harnessing the one thing he was most afraid of: his voice.
Based on rare archives and interviews with those who knew him best, this authorized biography is a redemptive, deeply human story of struggle, heartbreak, and triumph. For anyone who’s ever felt like an outsider, this book inspires with a powerful message: your deepest fear can become your greatest strength, and your pain can become your purpose.
Gina Waggott is the author of Scatman John: The Remarkable Story of the World’s Unlikeliest Popstar, the authorized biography of her friend and mentor, jazz-pop singer John Larkin. Her work has appeared in The Times, The Sunday Times, Reader’s Digest, and Significance. A former TV professional, she spent over a decade at the BBC working on BAFTA-nominated series. A person who stutters, she’s active in several nonprofits supporting the global stuttering community. She lives in Bristol, UK, with her partner, author Graham Hoyland.
Daniel Kremer is a filmmaker, film historian, biographer, person who stutters, and the co-star of Peter Nicks’s documentary Danny and the Scatman (1999), alongside Scatman John. His widely acclaimed audio commentaries have appeared on nearly 200 DVD/Blu-ray releases from almost 20 different companies. He has also directed both fiction and non-fiction feature-length films. His epic Overwhelm the Sky (2019) is distributed by Kino Lorber. His books include Sidney J. Furie: Life and Films (2015), Adventures in Auteurism (2025), and the upcoming My Lunches With Henry Jaglom (2026). His documentaries have been screened and distributed worldwide. He lives with his husband Evan in Pasadena.
