12 Facts About Colin Larkin

Colin Larkin was born on 1949 and is a British music writer.

Colin Larkin founded and was the editor-in-chief of The Encyclopedia of Popular Music.

Colin 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.

Colin Larkin studied at the South East Essex County Technical High School and at the London College of Printing, where he took typography and graphic design.

In 1989, Colin Larkin formed Square One Books to create a multi-volume The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, and to publish music-related books.

Over 50 separate titles followed the creation of the Encyclopedia's database, and in 1997 Colin Larkin sold Square One Books to American data company Muze.

Colin 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".

From September 2008, Colin 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.

In 2008, Colin Larkin launched a new website whose original inspiration had come from the All Time Top 1000 Albums, initially called 1000Greatest.

Colin Larkin closed down this website in August 2018 and re-directed the content to Musopedia.

Colin Larkin wrote the liner notes for the Rolling Stones' curated project Confessin' the Blues.

Colin Larkin's 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.