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 Kno ...

'', 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'' ( ...

'' 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 t ...

'', 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 Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

'', 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 Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Fore ...

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, 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 Riv ...

. 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

waltzer A Waltzer is a flat fairground ride that often forms the centrepiece of traditional British and Irish fairs. The ride consists of a number of cars which spin freely while rotating around a central point, in much the same way as a carousel. As ...

s to make ends meet. It was in the fairground, against a background of

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...

on the wind-up 78 rpm turntables, that Larkin acquired his passion for the world of popular music. He studied at the

South East Essex County Technical High School South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sun� ...

and at the London College of Printing, 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), an ...

and graphic design.

Art and publishing

His company Scorpion Publishing published John Gorman's trilogy of Labour history, ''Banner Bright'', ''To Build Jerusalem'' and ''Images of Labour''. Music books at this time included Johnny Rogan'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, un ...

, R.E.M., 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 con ...

and

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of ...

. 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 singles, 3500 vinyl albums, 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. 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 Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fiction ...

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. 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 des ...

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 paperbacks, incorporating full-colour reproductions of over 300 of the original cover artworks. The book was nominated for the

H. R. F. Keating Henry Reymond Fitzwalter Keating (31 October 1926 – 27 March 2011) was an English crime fiction writer most notable for his series of novels featuring Inspector Ghote of the Bombay CID. Life Keating, known as "Harry" to friends and family, ...

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