Scatman John
Pop Singer
Stuttering singer who turned his disability into an asset, creating the international hits "Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)" and "Scatman's World."
A stutterer from his youth, he began playing piano so he would not have to talk or sing and then learned scat singing.
On the advice of his manager, he combined scat singing with dance music, producing his Scatman John persona, who directly addressed the stuttering problem in his works.
He was born in El Monte, California. He and his wife, Judy, worked together to beat their substance abuse problems.
His jazz music was inspired by the sounds of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.