The Turtles
Having begun their career playing in college-based surf instrumental groups, the Nightriders and the Crossfires, this Los Angeles sextet abruptly switched to beat music during 1964 in imitation of the Beatles. The line-up consisted of Howard Kaylan (b. Howard Kaplan, 22 June 1947, New York, USA; vocals/saxophone) and Mark Volman (b. 19 April 1947, Los Angeles, California, USA; vocals/saxophone), backed by Al Nichol (b. 31 March 1945, North Carolina, USA; piano/guitar), Jim Tucker (b. 17 October 1946, Los Angeles, California, USA; guitar), Chuck Portz (b. 28 March 1945, Santa Monica, California, USA; bass) and Don Murray (b. 8 November 1945, Los Angeles, California, USA; drums). By the summer of l965 they found themselves caught up in the folk rock boom and, impressed by the success of local rivals the Byrds elected to call themselves the Tyrtles. That idea was soon dropped but as the Turtles they slavishly followed the Byrds blueprint, covering a Bob Dylan song, It Ain't Me Babe to considerable effect. After rejecting Eve Of Destruction as a possible follow-up, they used the services of its composer, the new ‘king of protest’ P.F. Sloan. His pen provided a further two major US hits, Let Me Be and You Baby before their commercial appeal wilted. The psychedelic boom of 1967 saw a change in the group's image and coincided with line-up fluctuations resulting in the induction of drummer John Barbata and successive bassists Chip Douglas and Jim Pons. 
The exuberant Happy Together revitalized their chart fortunes, reaching number 1 in the US and also charting in the UK. That song has now achieved classic status and is a perennial turntable hit. The follow-up She'd Rather Be With Me was another zestful singalong establishing the group as expert pop craftsmen. The mid-tempo You Know What I Mean and Elenore were also impressive, with the usual sprinkling of affectionate parody that worked against the odds. The Turtles hardly looked like pop stars but sang delightfully anachronistic teen ballads and ended their hit career by returning to their folk-rock roots, courtesy of You Showed Me, first recorded by the Byrds in 1964. With a final touch of irony their record company issued the once rejected Eve Of Destruction as the group's final single. After the group dissolved, Kaylan and Volman (with Pons) joined the Mothers Of Invention and later emerged as Flo And Eddie, offering their services as producers and backing singers to a number of prominent artists.