Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''

Encyclopedia of Popular Music ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is an encyclopedia created in 1989 by Colin Larkin. It is the "modern man's" equivalent of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music'', which Larkin describes in less than flattering terms.''The Times'', ''The Kn ...

'', described by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along with the ten-volume encyclopedia, Larkin also wrote the book ''

All Time Top 1000 Albums ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by th ...

'', and edited the ''Guinness Who's Who of

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

'', the ''Guinness Who's Who of Blues'', and the ''Virgin Encyclopedia Of Heavy Rock''. He has over 650,000 copies in print to date.

Background and education

Larkin was born in Dagenham,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

. Larkin spent much of his early childhood attending the travelling fair where his father, who worked by day as a plumber for the council, moonlighted on the waltzers to make ends meet. It was in the fairground, against a background of Little Richard on the wind-up

78 rpm A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...

turntables A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

, that Larkin acquired his passion for the world of popular music. He studied at the South East Essex County Technical High School and at the

London College of Printing The London College of Communication is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. It specialises in media-related subjects including advertising, animation, film, graphic design, photography and sound arts. It has approximately ...

, where he took

typography Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), ...

and graphic design.

Art and publishing

His company Scorpion Publishing published John Gorman's trilogy of

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

history, ''Banner Bright'', ''To Build Jerusalem'' and ''Images of Labour''. Music books at this time included

Johnny Rogan John Rogan (14 February 1953 – 21 January 2021) was a British author of Irish descent best known for his books about music and popular culture. He wrote influential biographies of the Byrds, Neil Young, the Smiths, Van Morrison and Ray Davies. ...

's ''Timeless Flight: The Definitive Story of The Byrds'' and ''Bob Dylan, His Unreleased Recordings''.''All about the guru of groove, Colin Larkin, editor of The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'
OUP.com
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''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music''

In 1989 Larkin formed ''Square One Books'' to create a multi-volume ''

'', and to publish music-related books. He published additional music biographies including those on

Graham Bond Graham John Clifton Bond (28 October 1937 – 8 May 1974) was an English rock/blues musician and vocalist, considered a founding father of the English rhythm and blues boom of the 1960s. Bond was an innovator, described as "an important, und ...

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...

, Eric Clapton,

The Byrds The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole cons ...

and Frank Zappa. In a pre-internet age, the work required to create an encyclopedia of popular music was considerable. Aided by a team of contributors, a fast-growing library of music magazines, books and the music itself, an eventual 3000

vinyl single Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

s, 3500

vinyl album A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...

s, 4500 music biographies and 38,000 CDs,''The Collector'' No. 20: Colin Larkin, ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide. History The early years The first standalone issue of ''Record Collector'' was published in March 1980, though its history stretches ba ...

'', Issue 314, Sept 2005. Larkin began compiling the ''Encyclopedia''. In 1992 the first edition of the ''

'' went into print. It was quickly recognised as monumental: ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' described the work as "musical history in the making", and in ''

'' they called it "a work of almost frightening completeness". Musician Jools Holland called it "without question the most useful reference work on popular music".

Later activities

Square One developed their own in-house software using 4th Dimension. Over 50 separate titles followed the creation of the Encyclopedia's database, and in 1997 Larkin sold Square One Books to American data company

Muze Founded in 1991, Muze, Inc. was a business-to-business provider of media information, metadata, and digital preview samples that enable search, discovery, and purchase of digital entertainment content. "Muze was founded by Zullo and Trev Huzley ...

. Larkin became full-time editor-in-chief and ran the encyclopedia as a cottage industry, with a team of fewer than ten contributors, who in terms of wordcount were "producing an Agatha Christie novel a month". From September 2008, Larkin ceased all involvement with Muze Inc. or any of its related companies following the closure of the ''

'' as a stand-alone product and his subsequent redundancy. On 15 April 2009, it was announced that most of the assets of Muze Inc. were purchased by

Macrovision TiVo Corporation, formerly known as the Rovi Corporation and Macrovision Solutions Corporation, was an American technology company. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company is primarily involved in licensing its intellectual property ...

. In 2008, Larkin launched a new website whose original inspiration had come from the ''

'', initially called 1000Greatest.com. This would later change its name to become the multi-media rating site and iPhone app, btoe.com (Best Things On Earth). Larkin closed down this website in August 2018 and re-directed the content to Musopedia.com. He is CEO and editor-in-chief of Musopedia Ltd. He wrote the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desc ...

for the Rolling Stones' curated project ''Confessin' the Blues''. In November 2020, Larkin released his latest tome, ''Cover Me – The Vintage Art of Pan Books: 1950-1965''. His first non-music book, it was a celebration of the classic

Pan Books Pan Books is a publishing imprint that first became active in the 1940s and is now part of the British-based Macmillan Publishers, owned by the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group of Germany. Pan Books began as an independent publisher, es ...

paperbacks, incorporating full-colour reproductions of over 300 of the original cover artworks. The book was nominated for the H. R. F. Keating Award in 2021 and reached the shortlist final eight. A paperback edition was published in May 2022.

Bibliography

* Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Jazz'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1992. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Sixties Music'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1992. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Indie And New Wave Music'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1992. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Heavy Metal'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1992. * Larkin, Colin (ed.),'' Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' (1st Edition, 4 Vols), Guinness Publishing 1992. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music Concise Edition'', Guinness Publishing 1993. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Seventies Music'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1993. * Larkin, Colin (ed.),'' Guinness Who's Who of Folk Music'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1993. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Soul Music'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1993. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Blues'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1993. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Fifties Music'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1993. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Country Music'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1993. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Stage Musicals'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1994. * Larkin, Colin, ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1994. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Rap, Dance & Techno'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1994. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Film Musicals & Musical Films'', Guinness Publishing 1994 * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Reggae'', Guinness Publishing (UK), 1994. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Jazz'' (2nd Edition), Guinness Publishing (UK), 1995. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' (2nd Edition, 6 Vols), Guinness 1995 (UK), * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Indie And New Wave'' (2nd Edition), Guinness Publishing 1995. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Blues'' (2nd Edition), Guinness Publishing (UK), 1995. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Guinness Who's Who of Heavy Metal'' (2nd Edition), Guinness Publishing (UK), 1995. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', Concise Edition, Virgin Books (UK), 1997. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Seventies Music'', Virgin Books (UK), 1997. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music,'' Virgin Books (UK), 1997. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music'', Virgin Books (UK), 1997. * Larkin, Colin, (ed), ''The Virgin Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock'', Virgin Books (UK), 1998, (also published in the US as ''The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock''. US, 1998) * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Fifties Music'', Virgin Books (UK), 1998. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave'', Virgin Books (UK), 1998. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of R&B And Soul'', Virgin Books (UK), 1998. * Larkin, Colin, ''The Virgin All-Time Top 1000 Albums'' (2nd Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 1998. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Country Music'', Virgin Books (UK), 1998. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae'', Virgin Books (UK), 1998. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Stage & Film Musicals'', Virgin Books (UK), 1999. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Heavy Rock'', Virgin Books (UK), 1999. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz'' (3rd Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 1999. * Larkin, Colin, ''The Virgin All-Time Top 1000 Albums'' (Pocket Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 1999. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music'', Virgin Books (UK), 1999. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Stage & Film Musicals'', Virgin Books (UK), 1999. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', Concise (3rd Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 1999. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' (3rd Edition, 8 vols). Macmillan (UK/US) 1999 * Larkin, Colin, ''All-Time Top 1000 Albums'' (3rd Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 2000. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Nineties Music'', Virgin Books (UK), 2000. * Larkin, Colin, (ed), ''The Virgin Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pop & Rock'', Virgin Books (UK), 2002, (also published in the US as ''The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pop & Rock''. US, 2002). * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of 60s Music'',(3rd Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 2002. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of 50s Music'', (3rd Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 2002. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music'', (3rd Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 2002. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', Concise (4th Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 2002. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of 80s Music'', (3rd Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 2003. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz'' (4th Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 2004. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' (4th Edition 10 vols) Oxford University Press (UK/US) 2006. * Larkin, Colin (ed.), ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music: Concise 5th Edition'', Omnibus Press 2007. * Larkin, Colin, ''Cover Me – The Vintage Art of Pan Books: 1950-1965'',

Telos Publishing Telos Publishing Ltd. is a publishing company, originally established by David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker, with their first publication being a horror anthology based on the television series '' Urban Gothic'' in 2001. The name comes from ...

, 2020.

References

External links

*
Founder, Editor & Writer of the World's Greatest Reference Book on Popular Music Comes to goNORTH!

Shoot the Designer

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larkin, Colin (Writer) Living people English writers about music 1949 births People from Dagenham