Nicolette Larson
Encyclopedia
Nicolette Larson was an American pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 singer. She is perhaps best known for her work in the late 1970s with Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...

, as well as her 1978 cover of Young's "Lotta Love
Lotta Love
"Lotta Love" is a Neil Young composition which as recorded by Nicolette Larson reached #8 on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 chart in February 1979 and also reached #1 on the Easy Listening chart ranking as the #10 Adult Contemporary hit of the year....

". The song, her debut single, was a Number One Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...

 hit and #8 pop hit that year. It was followed by four more Adult Contemporary hits, two of which were also minor pop hits.

By 1985, she shifted her focus to country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

, charting six times on the Hot Country Singles (now Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

) charts. Her only Top 40 country hit was "That's How You Know When Love's Right", a duet with Steve Wariner
Steve Wariner
Steven Noel "Steve" Wariner is an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. He has released eighteen studio albums, including six on MCA Records, and three each on RCA Records, Arista Records and Capitol Records...

. She died in 1997 of cerebral edema
Cerebral edema
Cerebral edema or cerebral œdema is an excess accumulation of water in the intracellular or extracellular spaces of the brain.-Vasogenic:Due to a breakdown of tight endothelial junctions which make up the blood-brain barrier...

 and liver failure
Liver failure
Acute liver failure is the appearance of severe complications rapidly after the first signs of liver disease , and indicates that the liver has sustained severe damage . The complications are hepatic encephalopathy and impaired protein synthesis...

.

Early life and career

Nicolette Larson was born in Helena
Helena, Montana
Helena is the capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. The 2010 census put the population at 28,180. The local daily newspaper is the Independent Record. The Helena Brewers minor league baseball and Helena Bighorns minor league hockey team call the...

, Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

. Her father's employment with the U.S. Treasury Department
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...

 necessitated frequent relocation for Larson's family. She graduated from high school in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 where Larson attended the University of Missouri for three semesters and also worked at waitressing and office jobs before giving in to the pursuit of a musical career she'd dreamed of since singing along to the radio as a child. Larson eventually settled in San Francisco where she worked in a record store; her volunteer work as support staff for the Golden Gate Country Bluegrass Festival brought encouragement for her vocal ambitions and she began performing in Bay Area showcases, eventually making her professional debut opening for Eric Andersen
Eric Andersen
Eric Andersen is an American singer-songwriter.-Biography:In the early 1960s, Eric Andersen was part of the Greenwich Village folk scene in New York...

 at a club in Vancouver BC
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

. In 1975 Larson auditioned for Hoyt Axton
Hoyt Axton
Hoyt Wayne Axton was an American country music singer-songwriter, and a film and television actor. He became prominent in the early 1960s, establishing himself on the West Coast as a folk singer with an earthy style and powerful voice. As he matured, some of his songwriting efforts became well...

 who was producing Commander Cody
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen is an American country rock band founded in 1967. Core members included founder George Frayne, John Tichy, Billy C. Farlow, Bill Kirchen, Andy Stein, Paul "Buffalo" Bruce Barlow, Lance Dickerson, and Bobby Black....

 with the result that Larson also performed with "Hoyt Axton and The Bananna Band" during their gig opening for Joan Baez on the 1975 "Diamonds and Rust" tour and accrued her first recording credit on the 1975 Commander Cody album Tales From the Ozone: Larson would also provide background vocals for Commander Cody albums in 1977 and 1978. Other early session singing credits for Larson were for Hoyt Axton and Guy Clark
Guy Clark
Guy Clark is an American Texas Country artist. In his career, he has released more than twenty albums, primarily on major labels. He has also written singles for other artists, including Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner and Rodney Crowell....

 in 1976 and in 1977 for Mary Kay Place
Mary Kay Place
Mary Kay Place is an American actress, singer, director and screen writer. She is best known as portraying Loretta Haggers on the television series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, a role which won her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series in 1977...

, Rodney Crowell
Rodney Crowell
Rodney Crowell is a Grammy Award-winning musician, known primarily for his work as a singer and songwriter in country music....

, Billy Joe Shaver
Billy Joe Shaver
Billy Joe Shaver is a Texas country music singer and songwriter. Shaver's 1973 album Old Five and Dimers Like Me is a classic in the outlaw country genre.-Biography:...

, Jesse Colin Young
Jesse Colin Young
Jesse Colin Young is an American singer / songwriter / folksinger and a founding member of the group The Youngbloods.-Early life:...

, Jesse Winchester
Jesse Winchester
Jesse Winchester is a musician and songwriter who was born and raised in the southern United States. To avoid the Vietnam War draft he moved to Canada in 1967, which is where and when he began his career as a solo artist. His highest charting recordings were of his own tunes, "Yankee Lady" in 1970...

 and Gary Stewart
Gary Stewart (singer)
Gary Stewart was a country musician and songwriter known for his distinctive vibrato voice and his southern rock influenced, outlaw country sound...

.

Larson's work with Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...

 — the album Luxury Liner
Luxury Liner (album)
Luxury Liner was the second successive #1 country album for Emmylou Harris on the Billboard Music Charts, although, unlike the preceding Elite Hotel, there were no #1 hits from this album...

(1977) prominently showcased Larson on the cut "Hello Stranger" — led to her meeting Harris' associate and friend Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...

 who became friends with Larson. In the spring of 1977 Larson was at Ronstadt's Malibu home when neighbor Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...

 phoned to ask Ronstadt if she could recommend a female vocal accompanist, and Ronstadt suggested Larson, becoming the fifth person that day to put Larson's name forward to Young. Young came over to meet Larson who recalled: "Neil ran down all the songs he had just written, about twenty of them. We sang harmonies with him and he was jazzed."

The following week Ronstadt and Larson cut their vocals for Young's American Stars 'n Bars album at Young's La Honda
La Honda, California
La Honda is a census-designated place in southern San Mateo County, California, United States. The population was 928 at the 2010 census. It is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains between Silicon Valley and the Pacific coast of California...

 ranch — the two women were billed on the album as the Saddlebags — and in November 1977 Young invited Larson to Nashville to sing on the sessions for his Comes a Time
Comes a Time
Comes a Time is the ninth album by Neil Young, and a return to the country/folk rock sound of Harvest . Many of the tracks include harmony vocals from Nicolette Larson. Originally, it had started out as a solo record, but when Young played it for Reprise executives they asked him if he wouldn't...

album, an assignment which led to Larson's being signed to Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...

, an affiliate of Young's home label Reprise
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...

. Larson continued her session singing career into 1978 accruing credit on recordings by Marcia Ball
Marcia Ball
Marcia Ball is an American blues singer and pianist, born in Orange, Texas but who grew up in Vinton, Louisiana. She was described in USA Today as "a sensation, saucy singer and superb pianist.....

, Rodney Crowell
Rodney Crowell
Rodney Crowell is a Grammy Award-winning musician, known primarily for his work as a singer and songwriter in country music....

, Emmylou Harris' (Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town
Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town
Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town was a #3 country album for Emmylou Harris on the Billboard charts, with three charting singles: "To Daddy" at #3, "Two More Bottles of Wine" at #1 , and "Easy from Now On" at #12...

) and Norton Buffalo
Norton Buffalo
Norton Buffalo was a singer-songwriter, country and blues harmonica player, record producer, bandleader and recording artist best known as a versatile exponent of the harmonica, including chromatic and diatonic....

. Larson also contributed vocals to the Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band. The group has sold over 40 million units worldwide throughout their career. The Doobie Brothers were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.-Original incarnation:...

' Minute by Minute
Minute by Minute
Minute by Minute is the eighth studio album by American rock band The Doobie Brothers, released in 1978. The album contains their biggest hit, the Grammy-winning "What a Fool Believes". "Depending on You" and the title track were also released as singles...

whose producer Ted Templeman
Ted Templeman
Ted Templeman is an American record producer.-Career:He began his career in the mid 1960s in the Santa Cruz area as a drummer in a band called The Tikis. At the suggestion of Lenny Waronker, the group decided to change their name. Harpers Bizarre was born in 1966, with Templeman switching to...

 would be responsible for Larson's debut album Nicolette
Nicolette
Nicolette is a UK singer-songwriter of Nigerian parentage. Living in London , she was born 1964 in Glasgow, Scotland, and has lived in Nigeria, Switzerland, France, and Belgium. Her music, although falling broadly into the field of electronica, is characterised by many influences, including,...

.

1978–1983

Larson's work with Commander Cody had led to her being signed to the C&W
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 division of Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...

. However her debut album Nicolette
Nicolette (album)
Nicolette by Nicolette Larson was released by Warner Bros. Records in 1978. It reached #15 on the US pop charts and was certified gold in the US and Canada....

, released September 29, 1978, was an eclectic mix of rock, C&W and R&B which recalled Maria Muldaur
Maria Muldaur
Maria Muldaur is a folk-blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s...

's eponymous debut
Maria Muldaur (album)
Maria Muldaur is the eponymous 1973 first solo release of musician Maria Muldaur. The album includes Muldaur's best-known single, "Midnight at the Oasis", which charted at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "Three Dollar Bill", which charted at #7 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts...

 from 1973. Despite the release of her album so late in the year, Larson was acclaimed Female Vocalist of 1978 by Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

who opined no one else could sound as if she were having so much fun on an album and Nicolette reached #15 on Billboard's album chart aided by the hit single "Lotta Love
Lotta Love
"Lotta Love" is a Neil Young composition which as recorded by Nicolette Larson reached #8 on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 chart in February 1979 and also reached #1 on the Easy Listening chart ranking as the #10 Adult Contemporary hit of the year....

" a Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...

 composition. Larson's "Lotta Love" peaked at #8 the week of 10 February 1979, the same week the single off Comes a Time: "Four Strong Winds
Four Strong Winds
"Four Strong Winds" is a song written by Ian Tyson in the early 1960s. It was first recorded by The Brothers Four in a version that "Bubbled Under" the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1963...

" a duet with an unbilled (on the single) Larson, debuted on the Hot 100 on its way to a #61 peak. (A track from the Comes a Time sessions featuring Larson: "Sail Away", was included on the otherwise live Neil Young album Rust Never Sleeps
Rust Never Sleeps
Rust Never Sleeps is an album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse released in 1979. The bulk of the album was recorded live at San Francisco's Cow Palace, with overdubs added. Audience noise is removed as much as possible, although it is clearly audible at certain points, most noticeably on the opening...

released in 1979.)

Warner Brothers also issued the limited edition (50000 copies) promo-only Live at the Roxy album comprising a December 20, 1978 concert given by Larson at the Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...

 nightclub. Larson was also featured on the No Nukes
No Nukes (album)
No Nukes: The Muse Concerts For a Non-Nuclear Future was a 1979 triple live album that contained selections from the September 1979 Madison Square Garden concerts by the Musicians United for Safe Energy collective, with Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, and John Hall being the key...

album recorded in September 1979 at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...

 backed by the Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band. The group has sold over 40 million units worldwide throughout their career. The Doobie Brothers were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.-Original incarnation:...

 in her performance of "Lotta Love"; Larson can be seen in the No Nukes
No Nukes (film)
No Nukes is a 1980 documentary and concert film that contained selections from the September 1979 Madison Square Garden concerts by the Musicians United for Safe Energy collective, with Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, and John Hall being the key organizers of the event and guiding forces...

film but her performance was not included.

Like Maria Muldaur, Larson would be unable to consolidate the commercial success augured by her debut: the second single off Nicolette, "Rhumba Girl"1 just missed becoming a major hit for Larson at #48 and her second album In the Nick of Time released November 1979 failed to showcase Larson's voice attractively. Don Shewey in Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

opined: "Larson's rough-edged, down-home tone is definitely appealing — especially when she backs up the likes of Neil Young and Steve Goodman
Steve Goodman
Steve Goodman was an American folk music singer-songwriter from Chicago, Illinois. The writer of "City of New Orleans", made popular by Arlo Guthrie, Goodman won two Grammy Awards.-Personal life:...

 [whose High and Outside album featured a duet with Larson: "The One That Got Away"] — but as a soloist, her limited vocal resources are "severely taxed" — "It's symptomatic of Nicolette Larson's problems as a performer that the finest singing on In the Nick of Time is by Michael McDonald
Michael McDonald (singer)
Michael McDonald is a five-time Grammy Award winning American singer and songwriter. McDonald is known for a soulful baritone singing style and a multi-octave range. He began his career singing back-up vocals with Steely Dan...

. 'Let Me Go, Love'...McDonald's entrancing vocal presence...so overshadows Larson's that she seems to be playing second fiddle rather than sharing the lead. Elsewhere, Larson is dwarfed by Ted Templeman
Ted Templeman
Ted Templeman is an American record producer.-Career:He began his career in the mid 1960s in the Santa Cruz area as a drummer in a band called The Tikis. At the suggestion of Lenny Waronker, the group decided to change their name. Harpers Bizarre was born in 1966, with Templeman switching to...

's typically luxurious production".

Released as the album's lead single "Let Me Go Love" was only a peripheral hit reaching #35 in February 1980 — that year Larson would be heard more on the airwaves via guest appearances on "Say You'll Be Mine" by Christopher Cross
Christopher Cross
Christopher Cross is an American singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas. His debut album earned him five Grammys. He is perhaps best known for his Top Ten hit songs, "Sailing", "Ride Like the Wind", and "Arthur's Theme ", the last of which he performed for the film Arthur starring Dudley Moore...

 and the Dirt Band
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country-folk-rock band that has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California in 1966. The group's membership has had at least a dozen changes over the years, including a period from 1976 to 1981 when the band performed and recorded...

's "Make a Little Magic". Larson had enough residual popularity from her debut for In the Nick of Time to become a moderate success. However without the boost of a major hit Larson's commercial decline was evidenced by the muted impact of her 1981 and 1982 album releases: Radioland, which was her last album produced by Templeman, and All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go even though both releases showed Larson back in strong vocal form. Larson almost had a hit with her remake of "I Only Want to Be With You
I Only Want to Be with You
"I Only Want to Be with You" is a rock-and-roll song by Mike Hawker and Ivor Raymonde. It was the first solo single released by British singer Dusty Springfield under her long-time producer Johnny Franz...

" (#53) perhaps the least effective track on All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go; that album was produced by Andrew Gold
Andrew Gold
Andrew Maurice Gold was an American singer, musician and songwriter. His works include the Top 10 single "Lonely Boy" , as well as the singles "Thank You for Being a Friend" , and "Never Let Her Slip Away" ....

.

Larson had continued her session singing career accruing credits on releases by Tom Johnston, Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...

 (Mad Love
Mad Love (Linda Ronstadt album)
Mad Love is a Platinum certified, Grammy-nominated 1980 New Wave album by singer/songwriter/producer Linda Ronstadt. The album debuted at #5 on the Billboard album chart — a record at the time and a first for any female artist — and quickly became Ronstadt's seventh consecutive million-selling...

), Graham Nash
Graham Nash
Graham William Nash, OBE is an English singer-songwriter known for his light tenor vocals and for his songwriting contributions with the British pop group The Hollies, and with the folk-rock band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Nash is a photography collector and a published photographer...

, John Stewart, Albert Hammond
Albert Hammond
Albert Hammond OBE is a British singer, songwriter and record producer from Gibraltar.-Birth and early success:Hammond was born in London, England, where his family had been evacuated to from Gibraltar during World War II. His family returned to Gibraltar shortly after his birth, and there he grew...

 and Rita Coolidge
Rita Coolidge
Rita Coolidge is a multiple Grammy Award-winning American vocalist. During the 1970s and 1980s, she charted hits on Billboard's Pop, Country, Adult Contemporary and Jazz charts.-Career:...

. Larson again backed the Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band. The group has sold over 40 million units worldwide throughout their career. The Doobie Brothers were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.-Original incarnation:...

 on their One Step Closer album - she can be heard on the hit "Real Love" - and a song Larson co-wrote with John McFee
John McFee
John McFee is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist, and long time member of the Doobie Brothers.-Biography:...

 and Patrick Simmons
Patrick Simmons
Patrick Simmons is an American musician best known as a guitarist and vocalist for the rock band The Doobie Brothers. His fingerstyle guitar playing complements the strumming style of Tom Johnston. Born in Aberdeen, Washington, he has been the band's only consistent member throughout their tenure...

 entitled "Can't Let It Get Away" was a 1981 single release for the Doobie Brothers in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

; the song was also featured on the Doobie Brothers' Farewell Tour
Farewell Tour
Farewell Tour is the first live album by American rock band The Doobie Brothers, released in 1983. . It documents what they thought would be their final concert. The front cover shows Keith Knudsen cutting the strings on John McFee's guitar as a symbolic gesture. Original lead vocalist and...

album (1983). Larson also contributed a harmony vocal on the track "Could This Be Magic" on the Van Halen
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...

 album Women and Children First (1980) to thank Eddie Van Halen
Eddie Van Halen
Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...

 for contributing a guitar solo to the Nicolette album track "Can't Get Away From You" against David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth is an American rock vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and former radio personality. Roth was ranked nineteenth by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Singers of All Time....

's wishes. (Larson would be the maid of honor at Eddie Van Halen's marriage to Valerie Bertinelli
Valerie Bertinelli
Valerie Anne Bertinelli is an American actress, best known for her roles as Barbara Cooper Royer on the television series One Day at a Time , Gloria on the television series Touched by an Angel and Melanie Moretti on the sitcom Hot in Cleveland .- Early years :Bertinelli was born in Wilmington,...

.)

Larson's recording of the Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...

/Carole Bayer Sager
Carole Bayer Sager
Carole Bayer Sager is an American lyricist, songwriter, singer, and painter.-Introduction:Born in New York City, Sager graduated from New York University, where she majored in English, dramatic arts and speech...

 song "Fool Me Again" was featured on the bestselling soundtrack album for the 1981 film Arthur despite not being heard in the film: Larson was also featured on the soundtrack album for National Lampoon's Vacation
National Lampoon's Vacation
Vacation, sometimes referred as National Lampoon's Vacation, is a 1983 comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid, Dana Barron and Anthony Michael Hall...

(1983) with the track "Summer Hearts".
  • 1"Rhumba Girl" was written by Jesse Winchester who introduced it as "Rhumba Man" on his Nothing But a Breeze album; although Larson had been a session singer on Nothing But a Breeze she had not sung on "Rhumba Man" first hearing the song at a live performance by Winchester.

1983–1997

Larson's appearance in a touring production of the C&W
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 musical Pump Boys and Dinettes
Pump Boys and Dinettes
Pump Boys and Dinettes is a musical written by a performance group of the same name. The performance group, "Pump Boys and Dinettes" consists of John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel and Jim Wann...

garnered enough positive reaction for MCA Nashville
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...

 to sign her in 1983: the Nashville music community was so enthused about Larson's C&W cross-over that the Academy of Country Music named her the Best New Female Vocalist in 1984 before she'd had any MCA Nashville releases. In fact Larson's MCA debut ...Say When was not released until 1985 and the C&W career it ushered in proved anti-climactic with only one of Larson's six MCA single releases becoming a significant hit: her duet with Steve Wariner
Steve Wariner
Steven Noel "Steve" Wariner is an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. He has released eighteen studio albums, including six on MCA Records, and three each on RCA Records, Arista Records and Capitol Records...

 entitled "That's How You Know When Love's Right" — taken from the April 1986 album release Rose of My Heart — reached #9 C&W. Larson's MCA albums — produced by Emory Gordy, Jr.
Emory Gordy, Jr.
Emory Gordy, Jr., born December 25, 1944, in Atlanta, Georgia, is an American musician and music producer. Since 1989, he has been married to country music artist Patty Loveless. Gordy was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1992...

 and Tony Brown
Tony Brown (record producer)
Tony Brown is an American country music record producer.He was born in Greensboro, North Carolina.Brown played piano for Elvis Presley. He toured with the TCB Band for much of Presley's final two years and was a part of the 1976 "Jungle Room" recording sessions at Graceland...

 — attracted little critical attention: in a Stereo Review critique headed "No No Nicolette" which characterized Larson as a faded Pop star for whom C&W music represented "the Last Chance Saloon", Alanna Nash
Alanna Nash
Alanna Nash is an American journalist and biographer.Nash holds a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is the author of several acclaimed books...

 opined Larson sounded as if she were reading lyrics off cue cards. Nash's review of Rose of My Heart — in which Nash stated her earlier review had drawn a response from Larson's manager implying Nash had taken "etiquette lessons from the Marquis de Sade
Marquis de Sade
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...

" — granted that Larson's interpretive skills showed improvement.

Larson's final mainstream album release was Shadows of Love a 1988 recording made for the Italian CGD label and produced by Carlo Stretti and Ernesto Taberelli. In 1990 Larson participated in the Festival di Sanremo duetting with Grazia Di Michele on the song "Me and My Father".

Larson's final album was the self-produced Sleep, Baby, Sleep comprising music for children and released on Sony in 1994.

Larson's further session vocal credits comprised work with Paul Barrere and the Bluesbusters
Paul Barrere
Paul Barrere is a current member of the band Little Feat, having joined the band in 1974...

, Jimmy Buffett
Jimmy Buffett
James William "Jimmy" Buffett is a singer-songwriter, author, entrepreneur, and film producer. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffett's musical hits include "Margaritaville" , and "Come Monday"...

, Carlene Carter
Carlene Carter
Carlene Carter is an American country singer and songwriter. She is the daughter of June Carter and her first husband, Carl Smith....

, Robert Forman, the Georgia Satellites, Marc Jordan
Marc Jordan
Marc Jordan , is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, session musician, and actor. Covering a wide variety of genres, he has written songs for a number of well-known artists, including Diana Ross, Rod Stewart, Cher, Bette Midler, and Josh Groban...

, Troy Newman, Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...

, Guthrie Thomas and "Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...

. In 1992 Larson reunited professionally with Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...

 to sing on his Harvest Moon
Harvest Moon (album)
Harvest Moon is the twenty-first studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, released in 1992. Many of the musicians appearing on it also appeared on his 1972 album Harvest, and this album is considered by many to be a pseudo-sequel to Harvest....

album; in 1993 Larson was featured on Young's Unplugged
Unplugged (Neil Young album)
Unplugged is a 1993 live album by Neil Young. It contains a previously unreleased song "Stringman", that dates from 1976. The taping of the show was also released on VHS....

. Larson also provided vocal accompaniment on "The Little Drummer Boy" and "Greensleeves" the two tracks Neil Young contributed to Seven Gates: A Christmas Album by Ben Keith
Ben Keith
Bennett Keith Schaeufele , better known by his stage name Ben Keith, was an American musician and record producer...

 and Friends
(1994).

In 1988, Larson contributed to the soundtracks of the films Renegade and Twins with respectively the tracks "Let Me Be the One" and "I'd Die For this Dance"; the latter was performed live onscreen by Larson accompanied by Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...

.

Larson also contributed to the seasonal albums Tennessee Christmas (1987) with "One Bright Star", Acoustic Christmas (1988) with "Christmas is a Time for Giving" and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (1989) with "Nothing But a Child" and "One Bright Star".

While it was recorded in 1978, Live at the Roxy was given its first full release in 2006. It was released by Rhino
Rhino Entertainment
Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company. It is owned by Warner Music Group.-History:Rhino was originally a novelty song and reissue company during the 1970s and 1980s, releasing compilation albums of pop, rock & roll, and rhythm & blues successes...

.

Personal life

Through her early work with Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...

, Larson met guitarist/songwriter Hank DeVito with a resultant marriage and divorce. In the early 1980s, Larson was engaged to Andrew Gold
Andrew Gold
Andrew Maurice Gold was an American singer, musician and songwriter. His works include the Top 10 single "Lonely Boy" , as well as the singles "Thank You for Being a Friend" , and "Never Let Her Slip Away" ....

, an affiance which ended soon after the completion of Larson's 1982 album release All Dressed Up and No Place to Go which Gold had produced. Larson was married to legendary session drummer Russ Kunkel
Russ Kunkel
Russell Kunkel , also known as Russ Kunkel, is an American drummer and producer who has worked as a session musician with a number of well-known artists.Kunkel was born in Pittsburgh, PA...

 from 1990 until her death; the couple's daughter Elsie May Larson-Kunkel was born in 1990.

Death

Larson died on December 16, 1997 in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 as a result of complications arising from cerebral edema
Cerebral edema
Cerebral edema or cerebral œdema is an excess accumulation of water in the intracellular or extracellular spaces of the brain.-Vasogenic:Due to a breakdown of tight endothelial junctions which make up the blood-brain barrier...

 triggered by liver failure. According to her friend Astrid Young
Astrid Young
Astrid Young is a Canadian singer/songwriter. She is the daughter of Scott Young and Astrid Mead. After her half-brother and fellow musician Neil Young bought Astrid her first amp in the 1970s, she began to explore her own musical talents...

, Larson had been showing symptoms of depression and her fatal seizure "was in no small way related to her chronic use of Valium and Tylenol PM".

Larson is buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery
Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery is part of the Forest Lawn chain of Southern California cemeteries. It is at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California, on the lower north slope at the far east end of the Santa Monica...

 in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

.

A benefit concert was held in Larson's honor the following February, with tribute concerts staged on the tenth anniversary of her passing in December 2007 and also the following year.

Albums

Year Album Chart Positions Certifications
US
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

US Country CAN RIAA CRIA
Cria
A cria is the name for a baby camelid such as a llama, alpaca, vicuña, or guanaco. It comes from the Spanish word cría, meaning "baby". Its false cognate in English, crya , was coined by British sailors who explored Chile in the 18th century and were quick to describe the camelids onomatopoeically...

1978 Nicolette
Nicolette (album)
Nicolette by Nicolette Larson was released by Warner Bros. Records in 1978. It reached #15 on the US pop charts and was certified gold in the US and Canada....

15 1 Gold Gold
1979 In the Nick of Time
In the Nick of Time (album)
In the Nick of Time, the second album from Nicolette Larson, has a lot in common with Lauren Wood's eponymous album released the same year. A duet with Michael McDonald, keyboards from Bill Payne, background vocals from Bobby LaKind and Rosemary Butler, a Ronnie Montrose guitar solo and even songs...

47 71
1979 Live At The Roxy (only as Promo
Promo
Promo may refer to:*Promotion , one of the four aspects of marketing*Promotional music videos, such as those played on MTV*Promotional recording, a recording distributed free in order to promote a commercial recording...

)
1981 Radioland 62
1982 All Dressed Up & No Place To Go 75
1985 ...Say When 48
1986 Rose of My Heart 40
1987 Shadows of Love
1994 Sleep, Baby, Sleep
1999 The Very Best of Nicolette Larson
2006 A Tribute to Nicolette Larson: Lotta Love Concert
2006 Live At The Roxy (recorded in 1979)

Singles

Year Single Chart Positions Album
US Country
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

US
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

US AC
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...

CAN Country CAN CAN AC
1978 "Lotta Love
Lotta Love
"Lotta Love" is a Neil Young composition which as recorded by Nicolette Larson reached #8 on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 chart in February 1979 and also reached #1 on the Easy Listening chart ranking as the #10 Adult Contemporary hit of the year....

"
8 1 4 1 Nicolette
1979 "Rhumba Girl" 47 38 15 4
"Give a Little" 104 19
"Let Me Go, Love"A 35 9 85 32 In the Nick of Time
1980 "Dancin' Jones"
"Back in My Arms"
1981 "Ooo-Eee" 110 Radioland
"When You Come Around"
"Radioland"
"Fool Me Again" 105 Arthur (soundtrack)
1982 "I Only Want to Be With You" 53 15 8 All Dressed Up & No Place To Go
1985 "Only Love Will Make Love Right" 42 33 ...Say When
"When You Get a Little Lonely" 46 41
"Building Bridges" 72
1986 "Let Me Be the First" 63 Rose of My Heart
"That's How You Know When Love's Right
That's How You Know When Love's Right
"That's How You Know When Love's Right" is a single by American country music artists Nicolette Larson and Steve Wariner. It was released in May 1986 as the second single from Larson's album Rose of My Heart. The song peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.-Chart performance:...

"
(w/ Steve Wariner
Steve Wariner
Steven Noel "Steve" Wariner is an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. He has released eighteen studio albums, including six on MCA Records, and three each on RCA Records, Arista Records and Capitol Records...

)
9 9
"That's More About Love (Than I Wanted to Know)" 49


A Reached #96 on the Black Singles chart

External links

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