Turtles, the

▪ American music group

      American band popular in the mid-1960s that specialized in vocally rich, craftily arranged pop music. The original members were Howard Kaylan (original name Howard Kaplan; b. June 22, 1947, New York, New York, U.S.), Mark Volman (b. April 19, 1947, Los Angeles, California), Al Nichol (b. March 31, 1946, Winston-Salem, North Carolina), Chuck Portz (b. March 28, 1945, Santa Monica, California), and Don Murray (b. November 8, 1945, Los Angeles—d. March 22, 1996, Santa Monica).

      Formed in Los Angeles in 1963 as a surf (surf music) band, the Turtles underwent a series of name changes and passed through a British Invasion-influenced phase before registering their first hit single as folk rockers (folk rock) in 1965 with a version of Bob Dylan (Dylan, Bob)'s “It Ain't Me Babe.” Period gems, the Turtles' many hits included “You Baby” (1966), “She'd Rather Be with Me” (1967), “Happy Together” (1967), their biggest hit, and “Elenore” and “You Showed Me” from the ambitious 1968 album The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands. At times musically adventurous, the Turtles experimented with psychedelic rock, exotica, odd time signatures, improvisations, theatrics, and satire. The band's core, vocalists Volman and Kaylan, continued as Flo (the Phlorescent Leech) and Eddie after the Turtles' dissolution in 1970, working with Frank Zappa (Zappa, Frank), providing backup vocals for other performers—notably British glam rocker (glam rock) Marc Bolan's T. Rex—and recording and performing on their own.

Craig Morrison

 

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