Larkn (Kristen Marie Mercado), displayed a love of music at a young age and sang in church choir throughout childhood. She started classical piano training in elementary school and due to her passion for singing, she began taking private vocal lessons not long after. In middle school she often wrote songs in notebooks and at the piano.  Having a love of creative arts and music, she auditioned for her high school's musical production in the 10th grade earning the part of "Lady Larken" in Once Upon A Mattress. A career of musical theatre and music led Kristen to Berklee College of Music, where she was a recipient of their World Scholarship Tour Program and Los Angeles, California, where she interned at Chime Entertainment (a record label formed by music producer Marc Tanner)  and spent time in some of the best recording studios in the world, absorbing what she could of the insides of the career-field of her dreams.

After a horrible health condition known as LPR interrupted her chances of a West Coast music career, Kristen moved back to her home state of Michigan to doctor her health and spent some quality time in the place she grew up, after a roughly 10 year absence. 

After giving up grains, refined sugars and making other dietary changes, she put her condition into full remission and moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan where she rebranded herself as Larkn and started Better From Here Music, a developmental record label and production company devoted to songwriters and music artists looking to develop their natural talents to make a way in the music industry.

She is a Mezzo-soprano, soprano voice, plays multiple instruments and has been songwriting for over 15 years. Her style blends singer-songwriter,  soul, country, Americana, jazz, rock, gospel and pop music. She studies audio production and engineering at Washtenaw Community College, and is building her own production company and record label, Better From Here Music, in the Ann Arbor area. She runs Do You Write Music?, a monthly songwriters event at Sweetwaters Coffee and Tea in downtown Ann Arbor, MI.  

For a list of shows, please see the tour page.