Though many recall the Turtles chiefly for their chart-topping 1967 single “Happy Together,” the Los Angeles-based sextet ranked among the decade’s more engaging American pop ensembles. Shifting from Byrds-inspired folk-rock to a luminous blend of Zombies-flavored chamber pop and buoyant, good-time fare echoing the Lovin’ Spoonful, the group relied on the rich harmonies of co-leads Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. After reaching number one with the buoyant “Happy Together,” the band managed only three additional Top Ten singles before disbanding at the close of the 1960s. Kaylan and Volman subsequently joined Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention in the early 1970s and performed as Flo & Eddie, yet by the mid-1980s they were once again headlining oldies bills under a reconstituted Turtles banner.
Born two months apart in 1947 on opposite coasts, Howard Kaylan (born Howard Kaplan) and Mark Volman met at Westchester High School in Los Angeles after Kaylan’s family relocated from New York. Both participated in the school’s a cappella choir, where Volman learned of Kaylan’s surf instrumental outfit the Nightriders, whose lineup already featured fellow choir members Al Nichol on lead guitar, Don Murray on drums, and Chuck Portz on bass. Volman joined shortly before the ensemble became the Crossfires in 1963. Following graduation, the Crossfires persisted while members pursued college studies, adding rhythm guitarist Jim Tucker in the process.
The decisive break arrived in 1965 when local disc jockey and club proprietor Reb Foster discovered the group. Impressed, Foster assumed management duties and secured a White Whale Records contract. The six-piece unit adopted the name the Tyrtles—an explicit nod to the Byrds—before correcting the spelling, then issued a Bob Dylan cover as its debut single. The track’s fusion of folk and bright rock & roll mirrored the Byrds’ approach, propelling “It Ain’t Me Babe” into the Top Ten by August 1965, only three months after “Mr. Tambourine Man” had topped the chart.
Transitioning from Dylan material to songs by self-styled “king of protest” P.F. Sloan, the Turtles returned to the Top 40 twice more in 1965–1966 with “Let Me Be” and “You Baby.” Murray and Portz departed, replaced by John Barbata and, briefly, bassist-producer Chip Douglas. Although momentum appeared lost by early 1967, the band rebounded with a demo find written by Gary Bonner and Alan Gordon. “Happy Together” held the American number-one spot for three weeks and became one of the year’s defining hits. The next three Bonner-Gordon compositions also reached the Top 20: the number-three “She’d Rather Be with Me,” which surpassed “Happy Together” internationally, followed by “You Know What I Mean” and “She’s My Girl.” Douglas, who had arranged the horns on “Happy Together,” exited to join the Monkees and was succeeded by Jim Pons, formerly of the Leaves. Jim Tucker likewise departed after a dispiriting English tour of modest venues.
Like many late-1960s pop acts seeking critical parity with more adventurous peers, the Turtles broadened their sound. From “You Know What I Mean” onward, a rotating cast of producers and arrangers pushed the music toward psychedelia while remaining anchored in the pop mainstream. Asserting creative control in late 1967, the group self-produced “Sound Asleep,” its first post-“Happy Together” single to miss the Top 40. White Whale insisted on outside input, leading the band to recall Chip Douglas; the resulting “The Story of Rock and Roll” also stalled outside the Top 40. Rescue came with September 1968’s “Elenore,” which climbed to number six—the highest placement for any Turtles-penned single. November 1968 brought the concept album The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands, on which the group emulated eleven separate bands, one per track. The set yielded “Elenore” and another number-six hit, “You Showed Me,” originally recorded by the Byrds. John Seiter replaced Barbata, who had moved on to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
After White Whale paired Kaylan and Volman’s vocals with anonymous studio tracks in Monkees fashion, the pair resisted and sought a return to band dynamics. Drawing inspiration from the Kinks’ The Village Green Preservation Society, they enlisted Ray Davies to produce 1969’s Turtle Soup. Two singles, “You Don’t Have to Walk in the Rain” and “Love in the City,” failed to reach the Top 40. Kaylan and Volman launched Blimp Records, signing artists including Judee Sill, who composed the Turtles’ final recording, “Lady-O.” Ongoing disputes with White Whale, compounded by commercial disappointment, dissolved the group by 1970. The label mined archives that year, issuing previously released singles, a second compilation, and the rarities collection Wooden Head.
Before 1970 closed, Kaylan, Volman, and Pons joined Zappa’s early-1970s Mothers of Invention. Contractual restrictions barred use of their names or the Turtles moniker, so Kaylan and Volman performed as the Phlorescent Leech & Eddie. The trio appeared on four Zappa albums between 1970 and 1972—Chunga’s Revenge, 200 Motels, Live at the Fillmore, and Just Another Band from L.A.—and toured with him until an onstage incident injured the leader. Rechristened Flo & Eddie, the duo continued briefly with other Mothers alumni and released five albums of their own from 1975 to 1981. They also contributed session work, scored children’s films such as The Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake, and hosted radio programs on Los Angeles’s KROQ and later New York’s WXRK.
By 1984 the Turtles name had reverted to the original members, and Volman and Kaylan resumed touring with a new lineup billed as the Turtles…Featuring Flo & Eddie. They regained rights to the master recordings and publishing, enabling extensive reissues. Rhino reintroduced the catalog in the 1980s, Sundazed issued further editions in the 1990s, and in 2016 Manifesto Records began its program with two substantial collections: the two-disc All the Singles, encompassing every 7-inch release plus unreleased material, and The Complete Original Albums Collection, presenting remastered versions of the band’s six studio LPs. John Barbata died on May 8, 2024, at age 79.
