John Paul Larkin (March 13, 1942 – December 3, 1999), better known by his stage name Scatman John, was an American music artist who created a fusion of scat singing and dance music, best known for his 1995 hits “Scatman (Ski Ba Bop Ba Dop Bop)” and “Scatman’s World” and 1997 hit “Everybody Jam!”

As a stutterer, Larkin stated that scatting was “turning [his] biggest problem into [his] biggest asset.” Scatman John sold millions of recordings worldwide and was named “Best New Artist” in the Echo Awards in both Japan and Germany. He was a recipient of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s Annie Glenn Award for outstanding service to the stuttering community and National Stuttering Association Hall of Fame.

In late 1998, Larkin was diagnosed with lung cancer. Larkin died at his home in Los Angeles on 3 December 1999 at the age of 57. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea near Malibu, California.