Patty Larkin (born June 19, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist based in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts. She is a founding member of

Four Bitchin' Babes The Four Bitchin' Babes is a group of female singer-songwriters with rotating membership performing mainly humorous, satirical, or light-hearted songs in the folk genre. The current touring group consists of Sally Fingerett, Deirdre Flint, Christ ...

. Her music has been described as folk-urban

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

Life and career

Patty Larkin was born in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

, United States, and grew up in a musical and artistic family in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

. Descended from a long line of Irish-American singers and storytellers, her mother was a painter and her sisters both musicians. She learned at a young age to appreciate the beauty and magic of the arts. She began classical piano studies at age 7, and became swept up in the sounds of pop and folk in the 1960s, teaching herself the guitar and experimenting with songwriting in high school. An English major, Larkin sang throughout her high school and college career, starting out in coffeehouses in Oregon and San Francisco. Upon graduation from the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

, she moved to

, Massachusetts, where she devoted herself to music, busking on the streets of Cambridge and studying jazz guitar at

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

and with Boston area jazz guitarists. Her recording career began in 1985 with Philo/

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by Al ...

where she recorded ''Step into The Light'', ''I'm Fine'', and ''Live in the Square''. In 1990, she signed to

Windham Hill Windham Hill Records was an independent record label that specialized in instrumental acoustic music. It was founded by guitarist William Ackerman and Anne Robinson (née McGilvray) in 1976 and was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The label was ...

's new

High Street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

label and delivered four releases: ''Tango'', ''Angels Running'', ''Strangers World'', and ''Perishable Fruit''. After Windham Hill was sold to BMG, Larkin moved to

Vanguard Records Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City. It was a primarily classical label at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but also has a catalogue of recordings by a n ...

and released ''à gogo'', ''Regrooving The Dream'', ''Red=Luck'', and ''Watch The Sky''. The latter was a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' "critic choice". In 2010, Larkin celebrated her 25th year of recording with ''25'', a stripped down retrospective of 25 love songs with 25 featured guests (Road Narrows Records/

Signature Sounds Signature Sounds Recordings is an independent record label specializing in Americana and modern folk music. Jim Olsen and Mark Thayer founded the label in 1995 to promote acoustic musicians who were playing in Northampton, Massachusetts. Signatu ...

). Larkin produced ''La Guitara'', a compilation of international women guitarists challenging the notion that there are no great women guitarists. She has also performed on numerous compilations and her songs have been featured in the following films: "Anyway The Main Thing Is" in ''

Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

'' ( Columbia/

DreamWorks DreamWorks may refer to: * DreamWorks Pictures, an American film production company of Amblin ** DreamWorks Television, an American television production company and division of the film studio ** DreamWorks Records, an American record label and f ...

); "Good Thing" in ''

Random Hearts ''Random Hearts'' is a 1999 American romantic drama film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas. Based on the 1984 novel of the same name by Warren Adler, the film is about a police officer and a Congressw ...

'' ( Columbia); and "Coming Up For Air" and "Tenderness on the Block" in ''

Sliding Doors A sliding door is a type of door which opens horizontally by sliding, usually horizontal to a wall. Sliding doors can be mounted either on top of a track below or be suspended from a track above. Some types slide into a space in the parallel w ...

'' (

Miramax Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. It was initially a leadi ...

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

recorded Larkin's "Angels Running" on her album '' It's a Man's World''. Larkin is the recipient of an honorary doctorate of music degree from Berklee College of Music. She has also been honored by Boston's Mayor

Thomas Menino Thomas Michael Menino (December 27, 1942 – October 30, 2014) was an American politician who served as the 53rd mayor of Boston, from 1993 to 2014. He was the city's longest-serving mayor. He was elected mayor in 1993 after first serving three ...

with "Patty Larkin Appreciation Day" for her career in music and philanthropic contributions.

Personal life

She currently lives with her partner and two adopted children in

Wellfleet, Massachusetts Wellfleet is a New England town, town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, and is located halfway between the "tip" and "elbow" of Cape Cod. The town had a population of 3,566 at the 2020 United S ...

Discography

References

External links

*
FolkLib entry for Patty Larkin

Patty Larkin: 25 Songs, 25 Friends, 25 Years
– interview by ''

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Larkin, Patty 1951 births American women singer-songwriters American folk guitarists American folk singers American people of Irish descent Berklee College of Music alumni American lesbian musicians American LGBT singers LGBT people from Iowa LGBT songwriters Musicians from Boston Musicians from Des Moines, Iowa Living people Four Bitchin' Babes members Guitarists from Iowa Guitarists from Massachusetts 20th-century American guitarists Signature Sounds artists 20th-century American women guitarists 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people 21st-century American women Singer-songwriters from Iowa Singer-songwriters from Massachusetts