Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the Encyclopedia of Popular Music,[1] described by The Times as "the standard against which all others must be judged".[2]
Along with the ten-volume encyclopedia, Larkin also wrote the book All Time Top 1000 Albums,[3] and edited the Guinness Who's Who of Jazz,[4] the Guinness Who's Who of Blues,[5] and the Virgin Encyclopedia Of Heavy Rock.[6] He has over 650,000 copies in print to date.[7]
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 rpmturntables, that Larkin acquired his passion for the world of popular music.[9]
His company Scorpion Publishing published John Gorman's trilogy of Labour history, Banner Bright,[10]To Build Jerusalem and Images of Labour.[11] Music books at this time included Johnny Rogan's Timeless Flight: The Definitive Story of The Byrds[12] and Bob Dylan, His Unreleased Recordings.[13][8]
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,[15] Larkin began compiling the Encyclopedia.
In 1992 the first edition of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music went into print.[16] It was quickly recognised as monumental: Rolling Stone described the work as "musical history in the making", and in The Times 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.[17]
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.[17] 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".[15]
From September 2008, Larkin ceased all involvement with Muze Inc. or any of its related companies following the closure of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music as a stand-alone product and his subsequent redundancy.[citation needed] On 15 April 2009, it was announced that most of the assets of Muze Inc. were purchased by Macrovision.[18]
In 2008, Larkin launched a new website whose original inspiration had come from the All Time Top 1000 Albums, 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).[citation needed] 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.
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.[20] The book was nominated for the H. R. F. Keating Award in 2021 and reached the shortlist final eight.[21] A paperback edition was published in May 2022.[22]
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, 2020.
References
^Larkin, Colin (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th Edition 10 vols) Oxford University Press (UK/US) 2006
^This information was obtained from Hi-Arts.co.uk 15 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
^Larkin, Colin, All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 2000.
^Larkin, Colin (ed.), the Guinness Who's Who of Jazz (2nd Edition), Guinness Publishing (UK), 1995
^Larkin, Colin (ed.), the Guinness Who's Who of Blues (2nd Edition), Guinness Publishing (UK), 1995
^Larkin, Colin (ed.), Virgin Encyclopedia of Heavy Rock, The, Virgin Books (UK), 1999.
^ abcAll about the guru of groove, Colin Larkin, editor of The Encyclopedia of Popular Music OUP.com
^"Who'd Put The Everly Brothers Above Elvis", Evening Standard 20 December 2006.
^Gorman, J. (5 November 1986). Banner Bright. Scorpion Cavendish Ltd. ISBN978-0905906485.
^Images of Labour : selected memorabilia from the National Museum of Labour History Gorman, J. (1985), London. London: Scorpion.
^Timeless Flight: The Definitive Story of The Byrds by renowned author Johnny Rogan, Rogan, J., Scorpion Publications / Dark Star, London, 1981 Abe Books
^"Macrovision Agrees to Acquire Assets of Muze, Inc". Reuters. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
^"UK: The Rolling Stones curate Confessin' The Blues in collaboration with BMG and Universal, with donations going to Willie Dixon's Blues Heaven Foundation". Bmg.com. 31 July 2018. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
colin, larkin, footballer, footballer, major, contributor, this, article, appears, have, close, connection, with, subject, require, cleanup, comply, with, wikipedia, content, policies, particularly, neutral, point, view, please, discuss, further, talk, page, j. For the footballer see Colin Larkin footballer A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view Please discuss further on the talk page January 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Colin Larkin born 1949 is a British writer and entrepreneur He founded and was the editor in chief of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music 1 described by The Times as the standard against which all others must be judged 2 Colin LarkinBorn1949 age 73 74 Dagenham Essex EnglandOccupationsWriterentrepreneurpublishermusicianWebsitecolinlarkin wbr comAlong with the ten volume encyclopedia Larkin also wrote the book All Time Top 1000 Albums 3 and edited the Guinness Who s Who of Jazz 4 the Guinness Who s Who of Blues 5 and the Virgin Encyclopedia Of Heavy Rock 6 He has over 650 000 copies in print to date 7 Contents 1 Background and education 2 Art and publishing 3 The Encyclopedia of Popular Music 4 Later activities 5 Bibliography 6 References 7 External linksBackground and education EditLarkin was born in Dagenham Essex 8 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 turntables that Larkin acquired his passion for the world of popular music 9 He studied at the South East Essex County Technical High School and at the London College of Printing where he took typography and graphic design 8 Art and publishing EditHis company Scorpion Publishing published John Gorman s trilogy of Labour history Banner Bright 10 To Build Jerusalem and Images of Labour 11 Music books at this time included Johnny Rogan s Timeless Flight The Definitive Story of The Byrds 12 and Bob Dylan His Unreleased Recordings 13 8 The Encyclopedia of Popular Music EditIn 1989 Larkin formed Square One Books to create a multi volume Encyclopedia of Popular Music and to publish music related books He published additional music biographies including those on Graham Bond R E M Eric Clapton The Byrds and Frank Zappa 14 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 15 Larkin began compiling the Encyclopedia In 1992 the first edition of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music went into print 16 It was quickly recognised as monumental Rolling Stone described the work as musical history in the making and in The Times 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 EditSquare One developed their own in house software using 4th Dimension 17 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 17 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 15 From September 2008 Larkin ceased all involvement with Muze Inc or any of its related companies following the closure of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music as a stand alone product and his subsequent redundancy citation needed On 15 April 2009 it was announced that most of the assets of Muze Inc were purchased by Macrovision 18 In 2008 Larkin launched a new website whose original inspiration had come from the All Time Top 1000 Albums 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 citation needed 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 for the Rolling Stones curated project Confessin the Blues 19 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 20 The book was nominated for the H R F Keating Award in 2021 and reached the shortlist final eight 21 A paperback edition was published in May 2022 22 Bibliography EditLarkin 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 amp Techno Guinness Publishing UK 1994 Larkin Colin ed Guinness Who s Who of Film Musicals amp 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 amp New Wave Virgin Books UK 1998 Larkin Colin ed The Virgin Encyclopedia of R amp 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 amp 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 amp 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 amp Rock Virgin Books UK 2002 also published in the US as The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pop amp 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 2020 References Edit Larkin Colin ed The Encyclopedia of Popular Music 4th Edition 10 vols Oxford University Press UK US 2006 This information was obtained from Hi Arts co uk Archived 15 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine Larkin Colin All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition Virgin Books UK 2000 Larkin Colin ed the Guinness Who s Who of Jazz 2nd Edition Guinness Publishing UK 1995 Larkin Colin ed the Guinness Who s Who of Blues 2nd Edition Guinness Publishing UK 1995 Larkin Colin ed Virgin Encyclopedia of Heavy Rock The Virgin Books UK 1999 OUP Online Archived from the original on 9 July 2007 a b c All about the guru of groove Colin Larkin editor of The Encyclopedia of Popular Music OUP com Who d Put The Everly Brothers Above Elvis Evening Standard 20 December 2006 Gorman J 5 November 1986 Banner Bright Scorpion Cavendish Ltd ISBN 978 0905906485 Images of Labour selected memorabilia from the National Museum of Labour History Gorman J 1985 London London Scorpion Timeless Flight The Definitive Story of The Byrds by renowned author Johnny Rogan Rogan J Scorpion Publications Dark Star London 1981 Abe Books Bob Dylan His Unreleased Recordings Amazon co uk Cable Paul 9780028703602 Books ASIN 002870360X Slaven Neil 1996 Electric Don Quixote The Definitive Story of Frank Zappa Omnibus Press a b The Collector No 20 Colin Larkin Record Collector Issue 314 Sept 2005 With a head full of hits The Knowledge The Times 22 December 4 January 2008 a b Rodger Jennifer 28 August 2000 Colin Larkin How I stay on top of pop The Independent on Sunday Macrovision Agrees to Acquire Assets of Muze Inc Reuters Archived from the original on 11 September 2012 Retrieved 13 February 2012 UK The Rolling Stones curate Confessin The Blues in collaboration with BMG and Universal with donations going to Willie Dixon s Blues Heaven Foundation Bmg com 31 July 2018 Retrieved 11 August 2019 Larkin Colin November 2020 Cover Me The Vintage Art of Pan Books 1950 1965 Telos Publishing ISBN 978 1 84583 988 8 Archive 2021 Awards Crimefest com Retrieved 7 January 2022 Larkin Colin May 2022 Cover Me The Vintage Art of Pan Books 1950 1965 Telos Publishing ISBN 978 1 84583 203 2 External links EditOfficial website Founder Editor amp Writer of the World s Greatest Reference Book on Popular Music Comes to goNORTH Shoot the Designer Interview With Colin Larkin Article in USA Today Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Colin Larkin amp oldid 1104908136, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
