Nicolette Larson

Nicolette Larson
Nicolette Larson in 1985
Background information
Born	(1952-07-17)July 17, 1952 Helena, Montana, U.S.
Died	December 16, 1997(1997-12-16) (aged 45) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Soft rock, pop, pop rock, country, country rock, folk, folk rock
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1973–1997
Labels	Warner Bros., MCA
Associated acts	Steve Wariner, Neil Young

Nicolette Larson (July 17, 1952 – December 16, 1997) was an American pop singer. She is perhaps best known for her work in the late 1970s with Neil Young and her 1978 hit single of Neil 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.

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, United States. Her father's employment with the U.S. Treasury Department necessitated frequent relocation for Larson's family. She graduated from high school in Kansas City, Missouri, 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, California, 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 at a club in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1975 Larson auditioned for Hoyt Axton who was producing Commander Cody 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 also provided background vocals for Commander Cody albums in 1977 and 1978. Other early session singing credits for Larson were for Hoyt 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. Interestingly, Nicolette 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. Since they were new to the recording industry, they were listed on the back cover of the album as "Street Singers" completely separated from the highly paid, well-respected artists who also appeared on the album.