NSA Connects: The American Popstar Who Makes Stuttering Impossible to Ignore

In 1995, Scatman John was one of the most recognizable musicians in the world: a 53-year-old American jazz pianist who transformed his stutter (long a source of deep shame) into a global pop phenomenon. In Europe and Asia, he outsold Michael Jackson. Within the NSA, he was a keynote speaker, an Annie Glenn Award recipient, and a Hall of Fame inductee—one of the most visible advocates the stuttering community has ever known.

Although John is no longer with us, his impact continues. His music has surpassed half a billion streams, and fluent listeners around the world celebrate stuttering through his legacy.

And behind him was John Larkin, a man in recovery who carried decades of internalized stigma about his stutter. For author Gina Waggott, he was more than a celebrity. As a teenager in the UK, hiding her own stutter, Gina began an unlikely correspondence with John—one that would change…