Lawrence “Larry” Watson is a brilliant musician, educator, and activist who has performed his Highly Emotional Music (HEM) to great acclaim across the country and around the world. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Larry has nurtured a spirit for justice his entire life, beginning his fight as early as his middle school years at Bedford–Stuyvesant. Despite the hurdles posed by his unsupportive and even abusive teachers throughout middle school and high school, Larry was admitted to a special high school program for promising black students called College Discovery. The College Discovery program had the goal of increasing the number of black students from the New York public schools entering four-year colleges, and 95% of the students in Larry's College Discovery program graduated from college [1].

Larry grew up going to the Black Baptist Church, where he first heard Mae Chambers, the minister's daughter, sing. Mae Chambers would become one of Larry’s greatest musical influences [2]. Describing himself as a “closet singer” during his childhood, Larry would only sing for his family [3]. Larry began listening to Motown Music and Berry Gordy in high school, enjoying Motown Records with friends and “trading albums rather than reefer” [4]. By the end of his high school education, as Larry’s passion for music grew, hopes of applying to music schools were dissuaded by school guidance counselors who told Larry, “We got enough negros singing and dancing, you’re not applying to music school” [5]. When he graduated in 1970 from Thomas Jefferson High School, he ignored his guidance counselor’s refusal to allow him to apply to a four-year college and did so anyway [6]. Larry attended the State University of Oswego from 1970 to 1974 where he majored in Secondary Education and History [7]. During his senior year at Oswego, Larry auditioned for Oswego’s music department. Impressed by Larry’s talent, the department gave him a spot at the school’s recital alongside other senior voice students. Larry describes this first Highly Emotional Music (HEM) performance as a mix of spirituals, European classical arias, R&B and country, saying, “I had a major recital” [8]. Graduating from Oswego in 1974, he certainly ended his four years there with a bang. 

After earning his undergraduate degree, Larry received a position as a social studies/ history teacher at the Auburn Correctional Facility in Auburn New York. While working there, he sang in bands, continuing his passion for music [9]. 

In 1977, Larry earned his master’s degree of Professional Studies from the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University. At Cornell, Larry sang for the Black Choir on campus and sang all over upstate New York. After obtaining his master’s degree, Larry became an administrative dean at Cornell. Larry served in different administrative positions at Cornell until 1984 when he was offered a position at Harvard University, as an academic administrative dean [10]. 

Moving to the city that he still calls home, Larry's music career took off when he arrived in Boston. In his first year teaching at Harvard, then Mayor Flynn invited Larry to go to Melbourne, Australia to represent Boston with a group of singers. After that, as Larry says, his music was “off to the races” [11]. In 1994, Watson was appointed as an adjunct professor at several institutions, including Berklee College of Music [12]. Watson would receive a full-time appointment at Berklee College of Music where he continues to serve as a professor of Ensemble in the Berklee performance department [13]. In a style of teaching he calls “edu-tainment,” Larry has masterfully blended his background in education with his passion for performance to foster a love of learning in his students.  

Larry has performed for major world leaders and change agents such as President Barack Obama, President Nelson Mandela, and the Honorable Reverend Desmond Tutu. Larry has also paid tribute to musical legends like Harry Belafonte and Berry Gordy, been a special guest for Al Green, Smokey Robinson, and others, and spent two years as judge on the show Sing That Thing [14]. Larry has produced three albums under his company, Save Ourselves Productions: The Journey, Prescription, and American Fruit with African Roots. In 2017, Larry published his book, H.E.M.: Highly Emotional Music, an insightful look at the social history of people of African descent through their popular musical forms. Larry plans to retire from his position at the Berklee College of Music next year. As he looks forward to his retirement, he plans to dive into writing his second book, Black Amnesia.

Larry grew up chronically underestimated by the systems around him, yet he rose above them, proving himself to be a gifted student, a talented singer, an inspirational educator, a skilled administrator, and an animated storyteller; his fighting spirit an inspiration to everyone he encounters.

[1]. Lawrence “Larry” Watson, interview by Laurel Schlegel and Catarina Tchakerian and Laurel Schlegel, Boston, MA, March 30, 2023.
[2]. “Biography,” About, SaveOurselves Productions, 2017, https://www.lawrencewatson.com/about.
[3]. Watson, interview.
[4]. Ibid.
[5]. Ibid.
[6]. Watson, interview
[7]. "Biography," About.
[8]. Watson, interview.
[9]. "Biography," About.
[10]. Ibid.
[11]. Watson, interview.
[12]. "Biography," About.
[13]. "Larry Watson, Professor," Berklee College of Music, Berklee College of Music, 2023, https://college.berklee.edu/people/larry-watson.
[14]. Watson, interview.