A prolific jazz pianist and vocalist for several decades, he rose to prominence during the 1990s through his fusion of scat singing and dance music.

[2] At age twelve, he began to learn the piano and was introduced to the art of scat singing two years later through records by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, among others.

[5] This was when he first decided to take a monumental step away from his insecurities and add singing to his act for the first time, inspired by a standing ovation he received for a performance at the Cafe Moscow in Berlin.

[6] Soon after, his agent Manfred Zähringer from Iceberg Records (Denmark) thought of combining scat singing with modern dance music and hip hop effects.

[citation needed] Larkin was worried that listeners would realize he stuttered, and his wife, Judy, suggested that he talk about it directly in his music.

Working with dance producers Tony Catania and Ingo Kays, he recorded the first single, "Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)".

Sales of his debut single were slow at first, but they gradually reached number one in many countries and sold over six million records worldwide.

Referring to a performance in Spain, Larkin said, "the kids screamed for five minutes straight, I couldn't start the song".

[20] The rights to the life story were given by his estate and the film is set to feature unparalleled access to the entire Scatman library, as well as previously unpublished private home videos.

In September 2024, an authorized biography on John's life written by Gina Waggott was officially announced for a late 2025/early 2026 release.