The Turtles

The Turtles were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965. The band achieved several Top 40 hits throughout the latter half of the 1960s, including "It Ain't Me Babe" (1965), "You Baby" (1966), "Happy Together" (1967), "She'd Rather Be with Me" (1967), "Elenore" (1968), and "You Showed Me" (1969), with "Happy Together" reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100.The group originally consisted of lead vocalist Howard Kaylan, backing vocalist Mark Volman, lead guitarist Al Nichol, rhythm guitarist Jim Tucker, bassist Chuck Portz, and drummer Don Murray, with subsequent members being bassists Chip Douglas and Jim Pons, and drummers Joel Larson, Johnny Barbata, and John Seiter.As the Turtles' commercial success waned by the end of the 1960s, they became plagued with management problems, lawsuits and conflicts with their label, White Whale Records, leading the group to break up in 1970. Kaylan and Volman (alongside Pons) then joined Frank Zappa's band, the Mothers of Invention, where, for contractual reasons, they performed under the name Flo & Eddie (Volman as "Flo", Kaylan as "Eddie"). After leaving Zappa at the end of 1971, Kaylan and Volman continued to perform under the Flo & Eddie name, becoming popular as a comedy rock act, and also went on to long-lasting success as session musicians for artists such as John Lennon, T. Rex, Bruce Springsteen, and Alice Cooper. In 1983, Kaylan and Volman began touring as The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie. Kaylan ceased touring in 2018, while Volman continued to tour with the Turtles until his death in September 2025, with Ron Dante (previously of The Archies) replacing Kaylan.In early 1963, New Yorker Howard Kaylan and Californian Mark Volman attended the same school, Westchester High in Los Angeles (Kaylan had moved from New York City as a child). The two sang in the school's a cappella choir, where Volman soon heard about Kaylan's instrumental surf music band, the Nightriders, which included Kaylan on saxophone and choir members Al Nichol on lead guitar, Don Murray on drums and Chuck Portz on bass. Volman joined the group as a saxophonist, just before the group changed its name to the Crossfires in the same year. After high school graduation, the band continued on while its members attended area colleges, picking up rhythm guitarist Jim Tucker as a sixth member along the way.They released a single, "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" b/w "Fiberglass Jungle", on the local "Capco Records" label, eventually signing with newly formed White Whale Records. Adhering to the prevailing musical trend, the group rebranded itself in 1963: with the help of KRLA and KFWB DJ and club owner Reb Foster, the Crossfires signed as a folk rock band under the name The Tyrtles, an intentionally stylized misspelling inspired by the Byrds and the Beatles. However, the trendy spelling did not survive long, and they had to name themselves The Turtles.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.