Mark Volman, the musician who co-founded the Turtles and the offshoot band Flo & Eddie, turned a member of Frank Zappa’s Moms Of Invention, and adjusted the course of sampling along with his lawsuit towards De La Soul, has died. Volman revealed in 2023 that he was identified with the neurodegenerative illness Lewy physique dementia in 2020, however he continued to tour after the prognosis. In accordance with Deadline, he died at this time in Nashville following a quick, surprising sickness. He was 78.
Volman is finest recognized for his work with the Turtles. He based the band with Howard Kaylan in Los Angeles in 1963, taking part in surf-rock underneath the title the Nightriders. That was rapidly modified to the Crossfires, after which, in 1965, the Tyrtles, with a tweaked spelling a la the Beatles and Byrds — becoming given the folk-rock sound the band had opted to pursue on the time. Simply because the Oneders ultimately gave up and adjusted their title to the Wonders, the Tyrtles turned the Turtles forward of their breakthrough hit, a canopy of Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe.” The band scored additional hits with “Let Me Be” and “You Child,” however industrial momentum was stalling out when “Pleased Collectively” got here alongside. Co-written by Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon, the 1967 orchestral psych-pop single topped the Sizzling 100 and nonetheless stands because the Turtles’ signature music.
Within the wake of “Pleased Collectively,” the Turtles had a run of huge hits together with “She’d Quite Be With Me,” “You Know What I Imply,” “She’s My Woman,” “Elenore,” and “You Confirmed Me.” By 1970, the band wound down, and longtime co-conspirators Kaylan and Volman turned members Frank Zappa’s Moms Of Invention, adopting the pseudonyms Flo (brief for Phlorescent Leech) and Eddie as a result of their contract with White Whale Information prohibited them from utilizing their actual names.
Throughout their Moms Of Invention years, Volman and Kaylan performed on a number of Zappa albums whereas additionally working as session musicians, contributing vocals to T. Rex recordings such because the hit “Get It On (Bang A Gong).” An harm to Zappa left them with time to create their first Flo & Eddie album, 1972’s The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie, kicking off a decade of authentic LPs that noticed the duo serving to to put the groundwork for comedy rock. They continued their session work all of the whereas, together with an look on Bruce Springsteen’s 1980 hit “Hungry Coronary heart.” In 1983, Volman and Kaylan started touring because the Turtles that includes Flo & Eddie, an association that continued for many years to return. Volman remained a fixture of the touring circuit till this yr, carrying on even after Kaylan retired from the highway in 2018.
In 1989, Volman and Kaylan turned conscious that De La Soul and producer Prince Paul had sampled a couple of seconds of the Turtles music “You Confirmed Me” on De La’s landmark debut 3 Toes Excessive And Rising. The Turtles guys sued, settling out of court docket for $1.7 million in 1991. The case established a authorized precedent and remodeled musicians’ strategy to sampling, which had beforehand been a wild frontier.
Under, revisit a few of Volman’s music.
