09/07/2025
The world of pop music has lost one of it's innovators, Mark Volman of The Turtles. He was 78. Together with HS classmate Howard Kaylan they founded The Turtles in 1965 in LA.
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.
Some kind of legal snafu in late 1969 early 1970 time frame prevented Volman and Kaylan from using the Turtles name and even their own names so they toured as Flo and Eddie.
They sang on T.Rex's "Bang a Gong" and later on Bruce Springsteen's first top 10 song "Hungry Hearts". They also toured with Alice Cooper in the early 70s.....Then in 1984 more great things happened: In 1984, as 'The Turtles... featuring Flo & Eddie' (together with three other groups from the 1960s: Gary Puckett, Spanky and Our Gang, and the Association), they traveled across the U.S. and Canada as The Happy Together Tour. The following year, they got together with the Buckinghams, Gary Lewis and the Grass Roots, for a 1985 version. For the eight months the tour was on the road, it was consistently one of the top 10 grossing tours in the country. Their last "Happy Together" tour was in the summer of 2025.
In 2018, Kaylan retired from touring due to requiring heart and back surgery. Volman, who was suffering from Lewy body dementia, died after a short illness on September 5, 2025, at the age of 78. RIP Mark.
Epic Oldies remembers The Turtles and the very positive fun-filled music they created and we play on our station!
Here they are on The Ed Sullivan Show.
The Turtles "Happy Together" on The Ed Sullivan Show, May 14, 1967. Subscribe now to never miss an update: https://ume.lnk.to/EdSullivanSubscribe Watch Motow...
