Remembering 2025’s Music Losses: Mark Volman

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One of the reasons I like to do these salutes (as much as one can “enjoy” paying tribute to someone who died) is because the name may not ring a bell until you hear the song, and then you say, “Oh, yeah, them.” Today’s music world farewell is one of those cases. Mark Volman The Turtles. “Happy Together.” Oh, yeah, them. Mark Volman was the one with the hair and the glasses. He and Howard Kaylan were the nucleus of The Turtles, a band with great harmonies in the late 60s. As happens in the music world, lawyers got involved (as Don Henley sang, “Lawyers dwell on small details”), and the record company prohibited Volman and Kaylan from performing in any musical capacity as themselves OR as The Turtles. So…goodbye Mark and Howard, hello Flo and Eddie! The duo created the moniker “Flo” (Volman) and “Eddie (Kaylan) to get around the legal stuff. “Flo,” believe it or not, was short for “Phlorescent Leech.” They did comedy records, worked with Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention, and continued to make “straight” music as well. Eventually they earned the right to appear as “The Turtles” again, and their oldies concerts “The Happy Together Tour” had them as “The Turtles Featuring Flo and Eddie.” Back problems forced Kaylan into retirement in 2018. With Volman’s passing, we have another memorable sound from the late 60s forever silenced. Mark Volman Born Mark Randall Volman, April 19, 1947, Los Angeles, California Died September 5, 2025, Nashville, Tennessee (Lewy body dementia/blood infection) (age 78) The Turtles’ “other” big hit, “She’d Rather Be With Me”: