{"id":2016,"date":"2024-03-26T13:24:40","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T13:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/?p=2016"},"modified":"2025-08-21T19:49:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T19:49:15","slug":"considering-nicolette-larson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/2024\/03\/26\/considering-nicolette-larson\/","title":{"rendered":"Considering Nicolette Larson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When Nicolette Larson<\/a> was growing up in Kansas City, Missouri, she\u2019d ask her friends to drive over bumpy roads so she could show off her Neil Young<\/a> impression. As the truck moved up and down, she\u2019d break out into a shaky vibrato.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a few years later, the singer found herself in a pickup again, this time with the very man she once emulated. Young \u2014 who first worked with Larson on his 1977 LP American Stars \u2018n Bars, <\/em>and briefly dated her afterward \u2014 was driving her around his Northern California ranch when she spotted a cassette tape on the floor containing songs that would wind up on his 1978 album Comes a Time<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI picked it up, blew the dust off it, I stuck it in the cassette player, and \u2018Lotta Love\u2019 came on,\u201d she told Jimmy McDonough in the Young biography Shakey.<\/em> \u201cI said, \u2018Neil, that\u2019s a really good song.\u2019 He said, \u2018You want it? It\u2019s yours.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larson recorded \u201cLotta Love\u201d for her 1978 debut, Nicolette<\/em>,<\/em> which coincidentally landed on shelves the same day as Comes a Time<\/em>.<\/em> Produced by Ted Templeman, who also helmed records by Van Halen and the Doobie Brothers that same year, the song immediately transformed her from an obscure backup singer to a hit solo artist, peaking at Number Eight on the Billboard<\/em> Hot 100. Rolling Stone<\/em> called her the Female Singer of the Year, writing, \u201cNo one else could sound like she\u2019s having so much fun for a whole album.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Larson\u2019s time in the spotlight was extremely brief. Though she continued to make albums with Templeman into the next decade, she failed to become a star like her friend and roommate Linda Ronstadt<\/a>. She ventured into country in the mid-Eighties, released a children\u2019s lullaby album in 1994, and unexpectedly died of a cerebral edema in 1997. At the time, she was married to drummer Russ Kunkel and raising a seven-year-old daughter. She was just 45 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larson has remained relatively unknown to all but die-hard aficionados in the years since, but that may change when Young releases the long-awaited third volume of his Archives series, which will include a previously unheard tape of the two rehearsing with an orchestra in 1977. It will pull the curtain back on Young\u2019s creative process and reveal the integral role Larson played in the creation of some of his most enduring music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe was absolutely fearless,\u201d Young tells Rolling Stone <\/em>of Larson. \u201cShe told me, \u2018I\u2019m the best one. I can follow you anywhere you want to go. No one can follow you better than I can.\u2019 And she could.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith the possible exception of [Crazy Horse guitarist] Danny Whitten, Nicolette sang better with Neil than anyone,\u201d says Young archivist and photographer Joel Bernstein. \u201cNicolette and Danny absolutely were the two best singers with Neil who really understood his singing, his soulfulness, and what to get across. When you hear Comes a Time<\/em> now, many years later, it pulls at your heartstrings as much as it did the first time you heard it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tape might also shed light on Larson\u2019s life and career, and show that she was much more than a one-hit wonder with a unique dating history (she also was linked to Cameron Crowe, \u201cWeird Al\u201d Yankovic, and others). \u201cIt\u2019s got to be so different for a female in this business, especially back then, and that\u2019s all I\u2019ll say on that,\u201d Steve Wariner, who duetted with Larson on the country hit \u201cThat\u2019s How You Know When Love\u2019s Right,\u201d tells Rolling Stone<\/em>. \u201cShe\u2019s one of the best-kept secrets in music. The world should know her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Before she sang<\/strong> at the kitchen table she shared with Ronstadt, Larson first learned music in her family home, practicing piano and guitar as a child. She was born on July 17, 1952, in Helena, Montana, one of six children: Bobby, Danny, Nicolette \u2014 or Nicci, as they called her \u2014 Mike, Judy, and Heather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larson\u2019s father, Bob, worked in the U.S. Treasury Department, so the family moved frequently. Larson had lived in St. Louis; Boston; Alexandria, Virginia; Birmingham, Alabama; and Portland, Oregon, before the family settled in Kansas City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hectic when you have that many kids,\u201d Mike, who is five years younger than Larson, says. \u201cIt was one bathroom, one phone, one TV, everybody was jammed into a couple of rooms. It wasn\u2019t a big house. And dinner time was always together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larson attended Bishop Hogan High School, and in interviews she\u2019d look back on her youth and describe herself as unpopular, yet not an outcast. She was a member of the chorus, but not a cheerleader \u2014 and she certainly didn\u2019t attend her prom. Her senior photo, incorrectly labeled \u201cNicki Larson,\u201d shows her looking apprehensive, with a string of pearls around her neck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"nicolette-phone.jpg\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Larson in her signature braids and bandana in the 1970s. (Courtesy of Elsie May)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t that groovy in high school, I wasn\u2019t that popular,\u201d she told Crawdaddy,<\/em> then rebranded as Feature<\/em>,<\/em> in one of the magazine\u2019s final issues, in May 1979. \u201cI mean, I wasn\u2019t the dog, I wasn\u2019t the one in class that nobody would sit next to, but I wasn\u2019t comfortable, either. Everybody\u2019s idea of a good time was getting a case of beer and sitting around fumbling with one another in somebody\u2019s basement. I thought sex and romance were going to be great, magnificent. The first time it wasn\u2019t that great, but at least it wasn\u2019t in somebody\u2019s basement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her chorus instructor Sister Mary Madeleva told The Kansas City Star<\/em> in 1997 that Larson was \u201cone of those quiet little creatures in the front row,\u201d while Louis Read, who taught world history and humanities, described her as a neat student who stayed out of trouble. \u201cHer senior year she had become kind of, well, she was into long hair and peace, very into music,\u201d he recalled. \u201cShe was very aware of a lot of the stuff that was going on, more so than some of the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That long hair would become Larson\u2019s signature look, often reaching below her waist and swaying chaotically back and forth as she delivered harmonies. Following her graduation in 1970, she waitressed and briefly attended the University of Missouri Kansas City before deciding to pursue music full time. \u201cI wanted to be a musician, something different than a secretary or waitress,\u201d she told Crowe<\/a>in Rolling Stone<\/em>.<\/em> \u201cKansas City wasn\u2019t the place.\u201d Like so many singers of the era, she headed to the West Coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s unsurprising that Larson\u2019s father disagreed with her career choice. \u201cI thought it was a waste of time,\u201d he told The<\/em> Kansas City Star<\/em> in 1982. \u201cHow many girls go out there to be singers, and how many of them make it?\u201d But Larson would be one of the few who did. She got a job at a record store in Berkeley, began hanging around clubs, and landed a gig as a production secretary at the Golden State Country Bluegrass Festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was through the festival that Larson began performing. She opened for Eric Andersen<\/a>, and sang with Commander Cody and Hoyt Axton. (Axton even brought Larson on the road in 1975, when his Banana Band opened for Joan Baez on her Diamonds & Rust<\/em> tour.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it was a chance meeting with songwriter and Buddhist teacher David Nichtern a year earlier that helped Larson\u2019s career take off. Nichtern, who wrote Maria Muldaur\u2019s \u201cMidnight at the Oasis,\u201d was performing with his band at the Sweetwater Saloon in Mill Valley, California, one evening, when Larson and a friend approached them at soundcheck. He soon hired Larson to sing in his band. \u201cI think it\u2019s fair to say I discovered her,\u201d Nichtern says. \u201cIt was called Nichtern and the Nocturns and Nicolette, but she didn\u2019t get billing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All these years later, Nichtern can still recall Larson\u2019s unique ability to harmonize. \u201cShe had this really graceful gift of being able to wrap herself around the lead vocal and make it feel like you had rehearsed for a million years already,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was like if you get a good suit, and it fits. It had that custom-tailored kind of feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That same evening <\/strong>at the Saloon, Larson also met Nichtern\u2019s pedal-steel guitarist Hank DeVito, who would become her first husband. \u201cThey had a lot of spark between them,\u201d Nichtern says. \u201cI had this total flash of intuition that she and Hank were going to get married. I literally said, \u2018Do you, Hank DeVito, take \u2014 what\u2019s your name? Nicolette Larson? \u2014 to be your lawfully wedded wife?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeVito also remembers he was instantly taken with Larson: \u201cShe was charming as hell when I first met her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larson and DeVito married that year on the coast, north of Santa Barbara. In attendance was musician and best man Rodney Crowell, and his then-wife Muffin and their six-month-old daughter, Hannah. After the couple said their vows, they ate Mexican food and drank margaritas. \u201cThey found an old Indian medicine man,\u201d Crowell remembers. \u201cJust a California outdoors wedding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In early 1975, DeVito and Crowell joined Emmylou Harris\u2019 Hot Band, leading Larson to duet with Harris on \u201cHello Stranger,\u201d<\/a> off 1977\u2019s Luxury Liner<\/em>.<\/em> She had already racked up several recording credits that year \u2014 from Crowell\u2019s solo debut Ain\u2019t Living Long Like This <\/em>to actress Mary Kay Place\u2019s Aimin\u2019 to Please <\/em>\u2014 but \u201cHello Stranger\u201d showcases Larson\u2019s abilities beyond harmonizing. She delivers powerhouse vocals, trading off lines with Harris while completely in sync.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harris introduced Larson to Ronstadt, and the two became fast friends. \u201cOur lives were very similar,\u201d Ronstadt says. \u201cWe were very close. We knew what was going on in each other\u2019s lives and what you were wearing and who your boyfriend was and what books you were reading. We shared everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"nicolette-emilou.jpg\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Larson backstage with Emmylou Harris on Feb. 3, 1977, in San Rafael, California Ed Perlstein\/Redferns\/Getty Images <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larson and Ronstadt would often go shopping for clothes to wear on tour, especially in the summer, when it was sweltering during the day and chilly at night. It was with Larson that Ronstadt bought her iconic Cub Scouts uniform<\/a> at an Army surplus store in New York, while Larson bought Hawaiian button down T-shirts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was perfect outdoor wear,\u201d Ronstadt says. \u201cShe was gorgeous, and she had that hair. The less makeup she wore, the better she looked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larson also got Ronstadt into roller skating; the pair Ronstadt wears on the cover of 1978\u2019s Living in the USA<\/em> was a gift from her friend. \u201cWe only knew how to go forward, we didn\u2019t know how to stop,\u201d Ronstadt says with a laugh. \u201cI don\u2019t know why we weren\u2019t nervous. We weren\u2019t good skaters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One evening, around 11 p.m., Ronstadt received a phone call at her home in Malibu. It was Neil Young, asking if she\u2019d lend some harmonies to his upcoming record, American Stars \u2018n Bars<\/em>.<\/em> \u201cHe said, \u2018You know anybody else?\u2019\u201d Ronstadt recalls. \u201cI said, \u2018Well, Nicolette Larson\u2019s here. We\u2019ll try.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young remembers coming over that evening with his producer, David Briggs: \u201cWe\u2019re sitting around a table and we put down a cassette recorder and as I played all these songs for the first time, they started singing them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Shakey<\/em>, Larson remembers how Young greeted her that rainy night. \u201cHe said, \u2018I guess I\u2019m supposed to meet you, \u2018cause I called three people lookin\u2019 for a singer and everyone told me your name.\u2019 Neil\u2019s kinda cosmic about things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young named Larson and Ronstadt the Saddlebags, and the singers headed up to Broken Arrow Ranch to record, providing swirling, cozy backing vocals to \u201cThe Old Country Waltz,\u201d \u201cHold Back the Tears,\u201d and other songs. American Stars \u2018n Bars <\/em>came out that May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the fall of 1977, <\/strong>Young asked Larson to come to Nashville to record his next album, Comes a Time<\/em>.<\/em> He had already completed a solo acoustic record in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but Warner Bros. suggested he overdub all the tracks with a band \u2014 something Young rarely did. \u201cPiecing together things can be a very artistic thing to do, but it\u2019s not what I like to do,\u201d he says. \u201cI like to perform a song, feel the energy, and then leave.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Young agreed, and recruited drummer Karl Himmel, steel guitarist Ben Keith, bassist Tim Drummond, fiddle player Rufus Thibodeaux, Spooner Oldham on keys, and Larson. Keith and Himmel both hired acoustic guitar players by accident, and Young used them anyway \u2014 resulting in eight acoustic guitarists on the record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comes a Time <\/em>contains some of Young\u2019s most beautiful material \u2014 the songs are earthy and intimate, with Larson\u2019s tender vocals blanketed over top. Her voice intertwines perfectly with Young\u2019s on tear-jerkers like \u201cAlready One\u201d and the Ian & Sylvia cover \u201cFour Strong Winds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I was singing, she was right there with me, like a semi-fraction of a second behind, going everywhere I went,\u201d Young says. \u201cIt was uncanny.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Larson returned to Los Angeles, where she was living with DeVito, just east of Marina Del Rey, she confessed to her husband she\u2019d been having an affair. \u201cShe fell in love with Neil Young,\u201d DeVito says. \u201cFrom there, it just fell apart. I assumed she was leaving me anyway, because she ended up going north to Neil\u2019s ranch. She was very ambitious, so the Neil Young connection was a lot better than a sideman for Emmylou.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeVito recounted the breakup in \u201cQueen of Hearts,\u201d which was a hit for Juice Newton in 1981. The lines \u201cThe Joker ain\u2019t the only fool\/Who\u2019ll do anythin\u2019 for you\u201d make it obvious who it\u2019s about. \u201cIt\u2019s Hank writing about her,\u201d Joel Bernstein says. \u201cThe Joker is Neil.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larson and DeVito divorced in 1978. Crowell recalls how devastated DeVito was: \u201cIt was a tragedy for Hank. We were young and out on the road, and we were silly boys, but never Hank. Hank was steadfast, committed, and the rest of us were just dogs. It seemed unfair that Hank, the most all-true husband, was the one who would get dumped by a chance encounter with a rock & roll star. So I always thought, \u2018Why Hank? He doesn\u2019t deserve this.\u2019 But I completely understood when Nicolette fell under Neil Young\u2019s spell. I would\u2019ve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m seconding that emotion,\u201d Nichtern says. \u201c[Hank] was just looking for true love. In the end, he thought he found it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November, Young returned to Nashville to rehearse with the musicians from Comes a Time<\/em> and his Give to the Wind Orchestra \u2014 which the public will finally get to hear this year. The following day, they flew to Miami for a benefit show he spontaneously decided to perform on his birthday. The concert was held at Bicentennial Park, and admission was free, with donations going toward the South Florida Chapter of the National Hemophilia Foundation, the Pediatric Care Center, and other causes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"nicolette-no-nukes.jpg\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Carly Simon and James Taylor sing at the anti-nuke concert at Madison Square Garden in New York, Sept. 19, 1979. At far right are Larson and Bonnie Raitt. (Carlos Rene Perez\/AP)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Young die-hards, the Miami concert is notable for his tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd; he covered \u201cSweet Home Alabama\u201d and dedicated it to \u201csome friends in the sky,\u201d referring to their fatal plane crash the month before. But for Bernstein, the highlight of the day was sitting on the bus prior to the show with just Young and Larson, listening to them duet on Comes a Time <\/em>songs \u2014 a private concert, for one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s unclear exactly when Young and Larson split, but it was sometime before the holidays that year. Larson likened the romance to a Hollywood fling. \u201cNeil and I had a brief relationship, probably no more than in a movie where a leading man and leading lady get a crush on each other,\u201d she told McDonough in Shakey<\/em>.<\/em> \u201cHe wasn\u2019t involved, and I was in a relationship that was falling apart. It was pretty much over \u2014 whatever it was \u2014 by Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young admitted to McDonough that he essentially ghosted Larson \u2014 \u201cI just kinda disappeared from that relationship\u201d \u2014 while Himmel confirms Young \u201cdisappeared and left town.\u201d But all of these years later, Young says their musical bond is what matters most. \u201cIt didn\u2019t matter what was going on,\u201d he says. \u201cThe music was first with us, and we really loved playing and singing together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young\u2019s half-sister, Astrid, who sang with Larson and remained friends with her for the rest of her life, agrees: \u201cWhere she was at in her career and what she was doing was not really what he was looking for. I think he wanted something that was a little bit more home. [They] were on different roads. Even though they parted ways on a personal level, I think they still had a lot of love and respect for each other. Neil valued her so much on the work that she did with his music that was so incredibly pivotal to the sound at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larson moved in with Ronstadt after the breakup, telling Crawdaddy<\/em>,<\/em> \u201cOne thing that I learned from the whole Neil episode: Good friends are essential. Linda pulled me through so much of that.\u201d Ronstadt tells Rolling Stone <\/em>she thought the split was for the best: \u201cWe go through those things, and they\u2019re a drag. It was hard for her because they sang really well together, but I don\u2019t think it was meant to be. Neil is really sweet, but he\u2019s moody, and I think that was puzzling to Nicolette. He\u2019s a real complicated guy, and he\u2019s got a wonderful heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, when her cover of \u201cLotta Love\u201d hit the charts, Larson was frequently asked about the relationship in interviews. \u201cPeople are always asking me to talk about Neil,\u201d she said. \u201cIt drives me nuts. It\u2019s nothing bitter, it\u2019s just very taxing.\u201d But with the single came her 1978 debut album, Nicolette<\/em>,<\/em> signaling her pivot away from backup singing. From now on, Larson would be doing things on her own terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Like she did with Young<\/strong>, Ronstadt introduced Larson to Warner Bros. vice president Ted Templeman. \u201cShe called me up and said, \u2018Teddy, I\u2019ve got just the ticket for you!’\u201d Templeman recalls. \u201c\u2018I\u2019m having lunch with her right now. Her name\u2019s Nicolette Larson. You\u2019ve got to hear this girl.’\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Templeman initially didn\u2019t think Larson\u2019s voice was distinct enough. \u201cI always feel that you need to be identifiable,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can\u2019t just be a voice out there. Nicolette didn\u2019t sit apart like that. She just sounded like another background singer to me.\u201d In an interview with Crowe, Larson echoed the same opinion of herself: \u201cI worried that I wasn\u2019t unique enough. \u2018I sound like Emmylou\u2019 or \u2018I sound like Bonnie Raitt.\u2019 I just figured my own style would evolve naturally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Templeman took a chance on Larson and signed her. He even saw Larson\u2019s role as an interpreter \u2014 rather than a songwriter \u2014 in a positive light. \u201cFrank Sinatra never wrote a song,\u201d he says. The two began selecting songs for her to cover on the album, and ended up with everything from R&B classics like Sam Cooke\u2019s \u201cYou Send Me\u201d to the wistful folk of Burt Bacharach and Bob Hilliard\u2019s \u201cMexican Divorce.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holed up at Amigo Studios in Los Angeles, Templeman and Larson recruited Little Feat keyboardist Bill Payne and guitarist Paul Barrere, the Doobie Brothers\u2019 Michael McDonald and percussionist Bobby LaKind, Ronstadt and Valerie Carter on backing vocals, and other musicians to record. In between takes, Larson would ride around on her roller skates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"nicolette-skating-venice.jpg\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Larson roller skating on Venice Beach in 1978. (Courtesy of Mike Larson)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eddie Van Halen contributed a solo to Lauren \u201cChunky\u201d Wood\u2019s \u201cCan\u2019t Get Away From You,\u201d but his bandmates didn\u2019t want him credited. \u201c Ed did it as a favor to me,\u201d Templeman says. \u201cThey had a little agreement where nobody in the band would ever play [on] anybody else\u2019s record.\u201d However, the band did record a parody of \u201cLotta Love,\u201d changing the words to \u201cLotta Drugs.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are several differing accounts of how Larson discovered \u201cLotta Love.\u201d In Shakey<\/em>,<\/em> Larson picks up the cassette tape off the floor of Young\u2019s truck. Karl Himmel tells Rolling Stone <\/em>it was he who was driving the truck, while Ronstadt claims she was the one who introduced the song to Larson and Templeman. Bernstein also remembers teaching Larson the song on guitar. However it came about, the single almost didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Templeman was having difficulty coming up with an arrangement for the cover, and they were nearing the end of their sessions. \u201cI didn\u2019t know what the hell I was going to do,\u201d he tells Rolling Stone<\/em>. \u201cBecause, to me, it was just another folk song.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But one day while driving, he had an epiphany when Ace\u2019s \u201c How Long<\/a>\u201d came on the radio. \u201cI got in the studio and I said, \u2018Don\u2019t talk, everybody!\u2019 and I played the chords,\u201d he says. He fleshed out the arrangement with Payne, adding a sax line and a disco bass run that was popular at the time. \u201cI stole that whole chord change, to put an intro,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicolette <\/em>was released on Sept. 29, 1978, landing on the Billboard<\/em> 200 a month later. The single \u201cRhumba Girl\u201d followed \u201cLotta Love,\u201d and the album peaked at Number 15 in March of the following year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite Larson\u2019s success, some male critics didn\u2019t embrace the album. \u201cI\u2019ve liked this woman on record with Neil Young and on stage with Commander Cody, but her solo debut is the worst kind of backup-chick garbage,\u201d Robert Christgau wrote<\/a> in Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rolling Stone<\/em> was kinder: \u201cHer voice doesn\u2019t have the plaintiveness or sheer beauty of Ronstadt\u2019s or Harris\u2019 or Dolly Parton\u2019s,\u201d wrote John Rockwell. \u201cNone of [this] is a serious problem, to be sure. There\u2019s a lot on Nicolette <\/em>that\u2019s already very good, and Larson is still a young, growing singer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Dec. 20 1978, Larson performed at the Roxy in Los Angeles, one of her first few shows with her band. Actress Mary Kay Place introduced her onstage as \u201cthe only person on the charts today who can sit on her personal hair.\u201d According to the Crawdaddy<\/em> profile, Larson wore a burgundy silk blouse and jeans, delivering tracks from her debut. The performance was recorded, and Warner Bros. released the live album as a promo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following a tour to support the debut, Larson and Templeman went to work on a follow-up, 1979\u2019s In the Nick of Time. <\/em>Although the album featured \u201cLet Me Go Love<\/a>,\u201d a yacht-rock duet with Michael McDonald that sailed to Number Nine on the Adult Contemporary chart, the album was unable to maintain the momentum of the debut. It spent 21 weeks on the Billboard<\/em> 200, peaking at Number 47.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mo-Ostin_Nicolette-Larson_Ted-Templeman_1979_Gold-Record-Ceremony_BW-8x10-Print_Photo-by-Andrea-Bernstein-1.jpg\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Larson, Templeman, and Mo Ostin at a barbecue celebrating Larson\u2019s first gold record at Warner Bros.\u2019 headquarters in 1979. (Andrea Bernstein)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a tough reminder for me, and for her, that it\u2019s really hard to find and deliver a hit single,\u201d Templeman said. \u201cIn this case, lightning didn\u2019t strike twice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her next record, 1981\u2019s Radioland<\/em>,<\/em> performed even worse, failing to crack the top 50 on the Billboard<\/em> 200. It was her final album with Templeman. \u201cTen years from now, I would hope that I wouldn\u2019t be too much of a memory,\u201d she told DJ and promoter Billy Brill<\/a> ahead of the release, already feeling like a one-hit wonder. \u201cI would hope that I was remembered as someone who made good music.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larson\u2019s final release on Warner was 1982\u2019s All Dressed Up and No Place to Go<\/em>.<\/em> The record showed Larson fully immersed in the Eighties, from the cheesy arrangements to the bubblegum-pink towel she wears in the shower on the album cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The record was produced by Andrew Gold \u2014 whom Larson was briefly engaged to \u2014 and they co-wrote the saxophone-laden \u201cI Want You So Bad.\u201d \u201cI was real skeptical of that,\u201d she told Fort Lauderdale News <\/em>on working with her significant other. \u201cI queried Andrew on this. I didn\u2019t want to sacrifice a romance for a record. Being together all the time is rough. You need a very strong relationship. Ours wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although her cover of \u201cI Only Want to Be With You\u201d landed on Billboard\u2019<\/em>s Hot 100, All Dressed Up and No Place to Go<\/em> was another flop. Warner dropped her following its release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know how fragile success can be, how intangible and fickle it all is,\u201d Larson told The Kansas City Star<\/em> that year. \u201cHaving a hit at the beginning like that is a little odd. But then that\u2019s better than spending four years trying to bust through and going through all that frustration. At least I know I can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larson ventured into musicals over the next couple of years, including a role in Pump Boys and Dinettes<\/em> and \u2014 oddly enough \u2014 Jesus Christ Superstar,<\/em> with David Cassidy. She was looking for a career renewal, a way to retrace her steps back to \u201cLotta Love,\u201d embarking on any path that would lead her there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe went whichever direction,\u201d her brother Mike says. \u201cSomething would come up, and she goes, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m going to do that.\u2019 I said, \u2018What about this?\u2019 [And she\u2019d say], \u2018I want to do this now.\u2019\u201d In 1984, that path suddenly became clear to Larson. She fired her manager, booking agent, and accountant, and headed south.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"AR-19-4-4.jpg\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Larson and Templeman on Lake Arrowhead, summer 1979. (Donn Landee*)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s almost impossible<\/strong> to talk about country music in the Eighties without mentioning the name Jimmy Bowen. The producer was a former teenage rockabilly singer who became Frank Sinatra\u2019s producer in the Sixties. He won Record of the Year for 1966\u2019s \u201cStrangers in the Night,\u201d becoming a Grammy winner at just 30 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1977, Bowen packed his bags for Tennessee, and six years later, he became the president of MCA Nashville. \u201cNashville at that particular point in time was in transition,\u201d says Russ Kunkel. \u201cJimmy had come to town and shaken things up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bowen revolutionized the genre, shifting from analog recording to digital. \u201cThat was blowing my mind,\u201d says Steve Wariner, who signed with Bowen\u2019s label in 1984. \u201cTechnically speaking, the world of country was changing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also changing were the amount of signees outside of Nashville. Pop artists were crossing over to the genre, from Kenny Rogers to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band to Orleans. \u201cA lot of artists were going, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re not so big in pop anymore. We\u2019ll go to Nashville and be a big fish in a small pond,\u2019\u201d says Tony Brown, whom Bowen hired as executive vice president and head of A&R. \u201cAll of the sudden, it wasn\u2019t so embarrassing to be in country music.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was Brown\u2019s love of the Eagles and country rock that led him to signing Larson. \u201cThat\u2019s my favorite kind of music, so it\u2019s only natural that I jump at the chance to sign Nicolette to the label at the time,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI thought it would be a rebirth of her career, and a big feather in my hat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown and Emory Gordy Jr. produced Larson\u2019s 1985 country debut, \u2026Say When<\/em>.<\/em> Despite the Academy of Country Music naming her Best New Vocalist<\/a>that same year, the album was another misfire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s very fair of country programmers to be protective of their audience, but I think I\u2019ve made a sincere album that should be evaluated seriously,\u201d she told Billboard<\/em>.<\/em> \u201cIn one sense, it would be easier if I were starting out completely new, instead of as the girl who had \u2018Lotta Love.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larson made another attempt the following year with Rose of My Heart<\/em>,<\/em> with the cover art featuring the musician in a black blouse with embroidered flowers and a red scarf around her neck. She got a bite with \u201cThat\u2019s How You Know Love\u2019s Right,\u201d her duet with Steve Wariner, which peaked at Number Nine on the country charts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wariner was riding high on his album Life\u2019s Highway<\/em>, with three hit singles on the charts. He was familiar with \u201cLotta Love,\u201d and quickly said yes to a collaboration. They spent an hour recording at Back Stage studios, and the two hit it off. \u201cWe immediately became friends,\u201d Wariner says. \u201cShe was so sweet, but she was like one of the guys \u2014 right in the middle of the room, laughing, joking, and having fun. She wasn\u2019t a diva, you know what I mean?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The duo performed the sultry ballad on television, including a March 1987 appearance on Hee Haw<\/em>.<\/em> Wariner remembers being completely transfixed by her onstage: \u201cI don\u2019t talk about this much, but, boy, when she was singing, she\u2019d look right at you,\u201d he says. \u201cHonestly, I can see myself being uncomfortable with her in some clips, because I was like, \u2018Damn, she\u2019s so pretty. Oh, my God, she\u2019s singing about how much she loves me. OK! I\u2019ve got to think about trees and rocks, or something!\u2019 She had really great pitch and control.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, Larson failed to successfully cross over. Many have stated how difficult it is to break into the country scene, including Rodney Crowell, who suspects it would have taken more than one song. \u201cIt takes a while before you would be allowed in, and I don\u2019t necessarily think that Nicolette was naturally a country singer,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t think her mindset and her sensibilities were really geared toward what the gatekeepers of country music would project on her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown says that while Larson never complained about her lack of success, she remained puzzled. \u201cShe would ask me, \u2018What is the problem? Is there something I should be doing?\u2019\u201d he remembers. \u201cI really thought she was a special person and I really loved her voice. I was really disappointed that it didn\u2019t work. As a record executive and a producer, I felt I let her down, and I\u2019m sure she probably felt she let me down. Now that I\u2019m older and wiser, I just realize, if the stars don\u2019t line up, it\u2019s just not going to happen. They got to line up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larson\u2019s stint in country is so little-remembered that neither album is on streaming services. They were only released on CD once, as a compilation in 2012, and copies usually sell for upwards of $100 on the internet. \u201cWhen I hang up,\u201d says Brown, \u201cI\u2019m going to go to eBay and see if I can find that damn record.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She returned to pop with 1988\u2019s Shadows of Love<\/em> \u2014 released exclusively in Italy \u2014 and attempted to act, appearing as the bar singer performing with Jeff Beck in Twins<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> starring Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger. But as she moved into the Nineties, something happened to Larson that made her struggling career her second priority: She became a mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsie May<\/strong> is at her home<\/strong> in Big Tujunga Canyon in the Angeles National Forest in February, using a landline because the cellular service is weak and she\u2019s \u201cperpetually in 1995.\u201d She\u2019s currently in Larson\u2019s flannel, which she wears on hard days when she wants to feel close to her mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like her parents, May is a musician \u2014 she just returned from a songwriting retreat with her husband and bandmates \u2014 and her resemblance to her mother is so striking that it proved difficult at first. \u201cPeople would be like, \u2018Why don\u2019t you just play her songs?\u2019\u201d she recalls. \u201cI got one horrid comment on a YouTube page at one point that was like, \u2018You should just wear your hair and braids and play \u201cLotta Love\u201d and it would be like Nicci never died.\u2019 I was like, \u2018Oh, God! Ouch!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pinpointing exact dates is challenging for May \u2014 she was only seven when Larson died \u2014 but pockets of memories are dear to her. She remembers Larson singing to her each night, strumming her Takamine guitar, and how May was able to fit into the instrument\u2019s case and fall asleep. She remembers being a part of the photo shoot for Larson\u2019s 1994 lullaby album, Sleep Baby Sleep<\/em>,<\/em> and suggesting to her mother that she title a song \u201cOh Bear<\/a>,\u201d after her teddy. She remembers Larson taking her to school one day, only to surprise her by driving to Disneyland instead. She remembers playing solitaire and puzzles in front of the fireplace, snuggled up in blankets. And she remembers saying goodbye to Larson when she was on life support, laying in bed next to her at the UCLA hospital, just before Christmas 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"nicolette-michael-jackson.jpg\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Larson and Michael Jackson present the award for Favorite Pop\/Rock Band, Duo, or Group at the American Music Awards in January 1980. The award went to the Bee Gees. (Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite both being part of the Seventies Southern California rock scene, Larson and Kunkel didn\u2019t actually meet until the end of the decade, and didn\u2019t begin dating until the late Eighties. \u201cWe had been orbiting each other for years, but there was never an opportunity for us to spend any time together,\u201d says Kunkel, whose legendary drum credits range from Joni Mitchell to James Taylor to Bob Dylan. \u201cThat was the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like every subject interviewed for this article, Kunkel emphasizes Larson\u2019s personality \u2014 effervescent, charming, and humorous. \u201cIf she walked into a room, everybody just felt better,\u201d he says. He also notes her obsession with Christmas, and how she once left their tree up for two straight years. \u201cNicolette said, \u2018It\u2019s a fake tree, what the hell? And every time you come in the house, you look at it and go: Oh, man, I feel better, it\u2019s like Christmas is coming!’\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite being a natural onstage, Larson was happiest at home. She was usually in her pj\u2019s \u2014 wearing a blue robe that May remembers having stars and moons on it \u2014 eating sugar-free popsicles, reading books, and watering her plants. \u201cShe was just a really cool lady that wanted to relax at home and do boring stuff, you know?\u201d May says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larson told The Kansas City Star <\/em>as much in 1984. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of times when I\u2019ve been backstage before a show and I look into the mirror and I don\u2019t want to do it,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel like looking at that image of myself and saying, \u2018You go out and do it and I\u2019ll stay here and read a book, and I\u2019ll be here when you get back.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Larson became pregnant, Kunkel dropped a ring into a champagne glass at lunch. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t really traditional,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was a mutual decision that was the best thing for us to do.\u201d They were married at the Intercontinental Hotel in Maui, and May was born in 1990. Larson appointed Ronstadt as her godmother. \u201cNicci wanted a baby so badly, and she was so happy when she got Elsie,\u201d Ronstadt says. \u201cThey were little buddies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two years after May was born, Young recruited Larson for his new album Harvest Moon. <\/em>They briefly worked together during the previous decade when she opened for Young\u2019s International Harvesters in 1985, but this would be their first time reuniting on a record. Young also invited the same Comes a Time<\/em> musicians to play on the new album, including Keith, Oldham, and Drummond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the heartwarming folk on Comes a Time<\/em> harked back to Young\u2019s Harvest <\/em>era, Harvest Moon <\/em>was revisiting that sound once again. It proved that at nearly 50 years old, Young was still capable of capturing that blissful barn-dance vibe, ushered in by Larson\u2019s harmonies on \u201cWar of Man,\u201d \u201cSuch a Woman,\u201d and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronstadt and Young\u2019s half-sister, Astrid, also supplied backing vocals; although Ronstadt is credited for singing on the title track, it\u2019s Larson and Astrid in the video, ooo<\/em>-ing along onstage with Young as he sings his love song for his then-wife, Pegi. It was Astrid\u2019s first time recording with her brother, and Larson became her mentor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe really took me under her wing,\u201d Astrid recalls. \u201cLinda set a bar for us in the Harvest Moon<\/em> recording because she held a note for an insanely long time. And I basically said, \u2018There\u2019s no way I can hold that note for that long.\u2019 [Nicolette] goes, \u2018Yes, you can. I\u2019m going to show you.\u2019 She taught me the technique and I instantly was able to do it. She did not take any of my insecurities for an answer, and probably had more faith in me than I did at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year later, Larson came to Astrid\u2019s aid again, during the taping of Young\u2019s Unplugged<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> when he changed the set list at the last minute. \u201cA lot of songs in the set we had never rehearsed, and I didn\u2019t know the parts,\u201d she says. \u201c[Nicolette] was basically singing my line to me in my ear in between parts. When they cut away to us in the video, we\u2019re just pulling back to our mics. She always had this \u2018soldier on\u2019 attitude about anything, and I really looked up to her for that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Astrid kept in touch <\/strong>with Larson over the next few years, going hiking with her in Runyon Canyon and seeing bands at the Viper Room. Eventually, though, Larson started to flake on plans. \u201cShe would invariably cancel on me,\u201d Astrid says. \u201c\u2018Oh, I think I\u2019m just going to stay home and have a glass of wine and a Valium, and take a bath and go to bed.\u2019 This happened more times than I can count. The first couple of times you don\u2019t really think about it too much, but then it turns into a pattern.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the joy that came with motherhood, many have noted how withdrawn and depressed Larson was in the remaining years of her life, particularly with Kunkel often out on the road. \u201cElsie was the light of her life, and she loved Russ very much,\u201d Astrid says. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think she really expected to be alone quite as much as she was.\u201d Joel Bernstein agrees: \u201cI think the marriage was difficult for her, and I just wish that her last years had been happier ones.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"nicolette-polaroids.jpg\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Family polaroids of Kunkel, Larson, and May. (Courtesy of Elsie May)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kunkel acknowledges that as two working musicians, he and Larson definitely had to spend a lot of time apart. But even at home, Larson requested they have separate bedrooms. \u201cWe were living together raising a child, but were also like roommates,\u201d he says. \u201cWhatever part of depression that our relationship contributed to her well-being, it was what it was. I loved her dearly. I just can\u2019t say it any other way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several sources have speculated that Larson\u2019s use of Tylenol, wine, and Valium contributed to her death, but the truth is much more complicated than that, beginning with the fact that she rarely went to the doctor. \u201cShe was not one to go get checked up for things regularly,\u201d May remembers of her mother. \u201cWhich, in turn, I am the exact opposite now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To Kunkel and May, Larson\u2019s death is a blur, a tragedy that unfolded in just a week. After having flu-like symptoms and drinking protein shakes to soothe her stomach, she finally agreed to visit Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in the San Fernando Valley. She was diagnosed with liver damage four days later, and was transferred to UCLA Medical Center for a transplant. David Crosby, who received his own transplant in 1994, warned Kunkel the waiting list would be extremely long. \u201cHe was honest with me about that,\u201d Kunkel says. \u201cEven though it might have been a long shot, I was going to try anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At UCLA, they discovered that Larson had an ulcer, and in that process she had a seizure, which put her into a coma. \u201cIt happened quickly, one event right after the other,\u201d Kunkel painfully recalls. \u201cWhen she was in the coma and her brain started to swell, the doctors came in and they had the conversation. \u2018We\u2019ve done all the tests.\u2019 You\u2019re left with that horrible choice of whether you keep somebody alive on machines or you let them go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larson died nine days before Christmas \u2014 her favorite holiday \u2014 of a cerebral edema. \u201cThe doctors did everything in their power to save her, but sadly they could not,\u201d her friend Graham Nash told The<\/em> Kansas City Star. <\/em>\u201cIt is a very sad day for music.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A funeral was held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills. Templeman didn\u2019t attend (\u201cI couldn\u2019t have made it through it\u201d), and Bernstein remembers that attendees were sobbing well before the service began. \u201cIt was just so tragic that she was gone,\u201d he says. \u201cI remember looking at that coffin and thinking, \u2018OK, Nic, this joke has gone far enough. Just get out of the fucking casket, all right? We can\u2019t deal with this anymore. Just fucking get up and get out of the fucking casket.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An all-star tribute concert was held for Larson the following February at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, featuring Ronstadt; Crosby, Stills, and Nash; Bonnie Raitt; Jackson Browne; Carole King; and others. \u201cThe people that knew her really, really were intent on bringing the most they could to dedicate to her spirit at that moment,\u201d Bernstein says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May mostly remembers playing hide-and-seek with her cousins in the green room, while wearing a sunflower shirt with matching leggings. \u201cI remember being backstage and Joe Walsh gave me a hug,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s so funny saying it out loud, all these big names. But to me it was just more aunts and uncles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young\u2019s absence at the tribute was felt by many, including him. \u201cI just couldn\u2019t do it,\u201d he says. \u201cI just didn\u2019t want to go. Because I have my own memories of her, and I just felt like I couldn\u2019t do it at that time. But now I would like to say how great she was, and what a wonderful person she was.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

About a year ago,<\/strong> Kunkel stopped by May\u2019s and gave her some of her mother\u2019s belongings. \u201c[He was] like, \u2018Hi, you\u2019re in your thirties, you\u2019re married, you have a mortgage,\u2019\u201d she recalls her father saying. \u201c\u2019You can be responsible for her wedding ring now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kunkel thinks that had Larson lived, they\u2019d still be married. He also admits that after nearly 25 years, he\u2019s still grappling with her death. \u201cI think in a lot of ways, I\u2019m still processing it,\u201d he says. \u201cWe carry trauma until we work [it] out. We carry those things with us. I\u2019m a functioning processor. Let\u2019s put it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same goes for the 15 sources interviewed for this story. All these years later, they\u2019re still trying to make sense of Larson\u2019s death. \u201cI wish I could go back in time and redo my Nicolette Larson experience,\u201d Tony Brown says of her failed country career. \u201cIf that was now, I probably would\u2019ve started a Highwomen [with] Nicolette and Emmy, like Brandi Carlile did.\u201d Rodney Crowell regrets losing touch with Larson after she divorced DeVito: \u201cWhen Nicolette passed away and I ran into Russell, I said, \u2018God, you\u2019re having your own grief and I don\u2019t want to dump this on you, but I feel like as a friend, I let Nicolette down.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others still marvel at how Larson touched their lives. For Astrid, she thinks of Larson every time she sings. \u201cYou meet people in your life that make a huge impact on you, and that\u2019s never going to go away,\u201d she says. Kunkel feels he\u2019s grateful for their time together, however brief. \u201cWe were blessed to be on her journey for that short seven-and-a-half\u2013year period,\u201d he says. \u201cHer story is so much bigger than me, anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe was so much more than \u2018Lotta Love,\u2019 even though she had a lot of love to give,\u201d May adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond music, May is carrying on her mother\u2019s traditions: She recently left her artificial Christmas tree up well past its due date. \u201cI haven\u2019t taken it down yet,\u201d she says proudly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How was it? Save stories you love and never lose them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

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