Nicolette Larson

Nicolette Larson (July 17, 1952 – December 16, 1997) was an American singer.

She is perhaps best known for her work in the late 1970s with Neil Young and her 1978 hit single of Young's "Lotta Love", which hit No. 1 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart and No. 8 on the pop singles chart.

It was followed by four more adult contemporary hits, two of which were also minor pop hits.

In 1975, Larson auditioned for Hoyt Axton, who was producing Commander Cody.

This led to Larson's gig with Hoyt Axton and The Banana Band, who were opening for Joan Baez on the 1975 "Diamonds and Rust" tour.

She gained her first recording credit on Commander Cody's 1975 album, Tales From the Ozone, and also provided background vocals for Commander Cody albums in 1977 and 1978.

Other early career singing credits were for Axton and Guy Clark in 1976 and in 1977 for Mary Kay Place, Rodney Crowell, Billy Joe Shaver, Jesse Colin Young, Jesse Winchester, and Gary Stewart.

Larson and Guthrie Thomas both worked with Hoyt Axton and recorded their first professional recording session together on Axton's Southbound album for A&M Records.

As newcomers to the recording industry, they were listed on the back cover of the album as "Street Singers", entirely separate from the highly paid, well-respected artists who also appeared on the album.

Larson's work with Emmylou Harris – the album Luxury Liner (1977) prominently showcased Larson on the song "Hello Stranger" – led to her meeting Harris's associate and friend Linda Ronstadt, who became friends with Larson.

In 1977, Larson was at Ronstadt's Malibu home when neighbor Neil Young phoned to ask Ronstadt if she could recommend a female vocal accompanist.

Ronstadt suggested Larson; she was the third person that day to mention Larson 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 ranch – the two women were billed on the album as the Bullets – and, in November 1977, Young invited Larson to Nashville to sing on his Comes a Time album.

This led to Larson's being signed to Warner Brothers, an affiliate of Young's home label Reprise.

Larson continued her background singing career into 1978, accruing credit on recordings by Marcia Ball, Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris (Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town), and Norton Buffalo.

She also sang on the Doobie Brothers' Minute by Minute.

That album's producer, Ted Templeman, then produced Larson's debut album, Nicolette.

Larson's work with Commander Cody had led to her being signed to the C&W division of Warner Bros. Records.

However her debut album Nicolette, released September 29, 1978, was an eclectic mix of rock, C&W and R&B.

Despite the release of her album so late in the year, Larson was acclaimed Female Vocalist of 1978 by Rolling Stone, which wrote no one else could sound as if she were having so much fun on an album.

Nicolette reached No. 15 on Billboard's album chart aided by the hit single "Lotta Love", a Neil Young composition.

Warner Brothers also issued the limited edition (5,000 copies) promo-only Live at the Roxy album comprising a December 20, 1978, concert given by Larson at the Sunset Boulevard nightclub.

Larson's "Lotta Love" hit #1 on the Easy Listening/Adult Contemporary chart and went Top 10 Pop in February 1979, the same week the single off Comes a Time, "Four Strong Winds" (an Ian & Sylvia record with Larson uncredited on the single), debuted on the Hot 100 on its way to a No. 61 peak.

("Sail Away", a track featuring Larson, from the Comes a Time sessions or shortly afterwards, was included on the otherwise live Neil Young album Rust Never Sleeps, released in 1979.)

Larson was also featured on the No Nukes album recorded in September 1979 at Madison Square Garden, backed by the Doobie Brothers in her performance of "Lotta Love"; Larson can be seen in the No Nukes film but her performance was not included.

Larson would be unable to consolidate the commercial success augured by her debut: the second single off Nicolette, "Rhumba Girl" just missed becoming a major hit for Larson at No. 48.

Her second album, In the Nick of Time, released November 1979, failed to showcase Larson's voice attractively.

Don Shewey in Rolling Stone wrote:"Larson's rough-edged, down-home tone is definitely appealing – especially when she backs up the likes of Neil Young and Steve Goodman [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. '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's typically luxurious production'."

Released as the album's lead single, "Let Me Go Love" reached only No. 35 in February 1980.

That year Larson was heard on the airwaves via guest appearances on "Say You'll Be Mine" by Christopher Cross and the Dirt Band's "Make a Little Magic".

Larson had enough residual popularity from her debut for In the Nick of Time to become a moderate success.

By 1985, she shifted her focus to country music, charting six times on the US country singles chart.

Her only top-40 country hit was "That's How You Know When Love's Right", a duet with Steve Wariner.

She died in 1997 of cerebral edema and liver failure.

Nicolette Larson was born in Helena, Montana.

Her father's employment with the U.S. Treasury Department necessitated frequent relocation for the family.

She graduated from high school in Kansas City, Missouri, where she attended the University of Missouri for three semesters and worked at waitressing and office jobs before beginning to pursue the musical career she had dreamed of since singing along to the radio as a child.

Larson eventually settled in San Francisco, California, where she worked in a record store and for the Golden Gate Country Bluegrass Festival.

She first performed as the opening for Eric Andersen at The Egress, a club in Vancouver, British Columbia.