Howard Kaylan
Kaylan performing in 2008 billed as "The Turtles Featuring Flo & Eddie"
Background information
Also known as	"Eddie"
Born	Howard Lawrence Kaplan (1947-06-22)June 22, 1947 (age 78) New York City, U.S.
Genres	Rock pop
Occupation	Musician
Instruments	Vocals keyboards clarinet saxophone
Years active	1964–2017
Labels	Warner Bros. Columbia
Formerly of	The Turtles The Mothers of Invention Flo & Eddie
Website	howardkaylan.com

Howard Kaylan (bornHoward Lawrence Kaplan; June 22, 1947) is an American retired musician and songwriter, who was a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s rock bandThe Turtles, and, with bandmate and friendMark Volman, a member of the 1970s rock duoFlo & Eddie, where he used the pseudonymEddie. He also was a member ofFrank Zappa's band,The Mothers of Invention.^[1]

Kaylan was born inthe Bronx to a Jewish family and grew up inUtica, New York, andWestchester, a neighborhood ofLos Angeles, California. He studiedchoral music and clarinet, and won aBank of America Fine Arts Award at age 16. He graduated early (asvaledictorian) fromWestchester High School, and briefly attendedUniversity of California, Los Angeles on a scholarship.^[2]

Kaylan andMark Volman foundedThe Turtles, a popular band of the late 1960s, for which, despite the fact that not all of their songs were written by the band members, Kaylan has been a prolific songwriter, and co-wroteElenore with his bandmates. At the end of 1970, Kaylan and Volman signed on as members ofFrank Zappa's band,The Mothers of Invention. The pair recorded tracks on five albums, toured to support them, and appeared in the film200 Motels, a semi-documentary film directed by Zappa. They were compelled to use the namesFlo & Eddie ("Flo" being shortened from "Phlorescent Leech") and were not allowed legal use of their own names, or that of The Turtles, until multiple lawsuits from that band were settled in 1985.

In 1985 the name "The Turtles" reverted to Kaylan and Volman after fifteen years in litigation, as well as all of the master recordings they made. Thanks toBurger King, theNFL,Sony PlayStation, and countless other television advertisements and motion pictures, the Turtles' catalog remains a staple for licensing and reproduction in the twenty-first century.^{[citation needed]}

Kaylan and Volman joinedThe Mothers of Invention,Frank Zappa's band, after the Turtles broke up, but were contractually prevented from using their real names, and were thus given the names "The Phlorescent Leech" (Volman) and "Eddie" (Kaylan).

Phlorescent Leech and Eddie appeared on Frank Zappa's 1970 albumChunga's Revenge and in 1971 as lead vocalists on Zappa's Fillmore East album as Howard Kaylan/Mark Volman where they sang "Happy Together", then onJust Another Band From L.A.,200 Motels and much laterPlayground Psychotics and other Zappa compilations of old live concerts from 1970–71.

Kaylan and Volman left The Mothers of Invention after an irate fan pushed Zappa into the orchestra pit at theRainbow Theatre inLondon during a concert on December 10, 1971, seriously injuring him.^[3] With Zappa using a wheelchair and unable to sing or play guitar for a year, The Mothers of Invention were on hiatus so Kaylan and Volman set out on their own as Flo & Eddie, never officially returning to the Mothers.

Kaylan and Volman signed with Columbia as Flo & Eddie. In his autobiographyShell Shocked, Kaylan revealed that upon receiving the cover art for their first album, they were appalled to learn that the printer had mistakenly printed the duo's stage names in the wrong order above their photograph. Volman was identified as Flo, which had been Kaylan's stage name in Zappa's band, and Kaylan was identified as Eddie, Volman's stage name. The label refused to reprint the cover, saying that it would cost too much money. Thus, Kaylan and Volman decided to professionally swap stage names.

Flo & Eddie released nine albums onWarner Bros. Records andColumbia Records in music; in film they provided music and voices for animated films likeDown and Dirty Duck; and they appeared in radio broadcasting.

In the 1980s, "Rock Steady With Flo and Eddie" was recorded inKingston, Jamaica, and the partners began writing comedy and script withChris Bearde,Larry Gelbart, andCarl Gottlieb. Simultaneously, they began writing regularly featured columns forCreem,Phonograph Record Magazine and theLos Angeles Free Press.^{[citation needed]}

They also produced many albums for other bands and artists, as well as singing backing vocals on over 100 albums. Flo & Eddie can be heard singing withJohn Lennon,Bruce Springsteen,Ramones,Blondie,Duran Duran,The Psychedelic Furs,T. Rex,Alice Cooper and many more.^[4]

In the mid-1990s, Kaylan turned his attention to the collecting and writing of darkfantasy literature and science fiction. He wrote two short stories, by way of experimentation, and both were published in the best-selling anthologies "Phantoms of the Night" and "Forbidden Acts".

In 2006, Kaylan released a solo album,Dust Bunnies, described as songs "hand-picked by Kaylan from years of seldom-heard B-sides and album cuts recorded by many of his favorite artists and supplemented by new arrangements of more familiar pieces and a rock original or two." It includes covers ofThe Honeycombs' "Have I the Right?",Barry Ryan's "Eloise", andThe Left Banke's "Love Songs in the Night" and "Two by Two".

As of 2008 Kaylan penned the widely read "Eddie's Media Corner" on his official website.^[4]

In 2018, Kaylan retired from touring due to requiring heart and back surgery; he was replaced in the Happy Together tour byRon Dante (ofthe Archies,the Cuff Links, andthe Detergents fame).^[5][6]

He portrayed an orthodoxminister who "married" Laura to Stavros in a dream sequence onGeneral Hospital, an old hippie onSuddenly Susan, and a younger one on theIt's Garry Shandling's Show.

In 1983, Kaylan appeared in the comedyGet Crazy, starringMalcolm McDowell andDaniel Stern. Kaylan played the part of Captain Cloud, a spiritual guru type of character, leader of a caravan of time-lost, gypsy-likehippies. In 1987, Kaylan and Volman appeared in a new music video of the song "Happy Together", made to promote the romantic comedyMaking Mr. Right, which featured the song during its end credits.

In 2001, Kaylan wrote a treatment for a very short film about his first night on tour in London. After taking it to his friend (andRhino Records president) Harold Bronson for input, the project was lengthened and shot as a one-hour movie. The following year, scenes were added, and it was back into the movie studio again to complete a full-length feature.My Dinner with Jimi thus became the first film written by Kaylan. It was produced by Bronson for Rhino Entertainment and directed by Bill Fishman (Tapeheads,Car 54, Where Are You?) for Fallout Films. In 2005, Kaylan appeared in a featured role inStephen King'sRiding the Bullet.

Kaylan's autobiographyShell Shocked: My Life with the Turtles, Flo and Eddie, and Frank Zappa, Etc. was published by Backbeat Books in March 2013. The book was written withJeff Tamarkin, and it included a foreword byPenn Jillette and cover art byCal Schenkel.

• The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie (1972)
• Flo & Eddie (1973)
• Illegal, Immoral and Fattening (1975)
• Flo & Eddie Interview with Barry Mann, Special Promotion Record for Radio Stations (1975)
• Moving Targets (1976)
• Rock Steady With Flo & Eddie (1981)
• The History of Flo & Eddie and the Turtles (1983)
• The Best of Flo & Eddie (1987)
• The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie Captured Live! (1992)
• New York "Times" (2009)

• Howard Kaylan official website
• The Turtles official website
• Howard Kaylan atIMDb
• Turtles / Flo & Eddie discography
• Rock and Roll is Here to Stay…Oy Vey!

• 1947 births
• Living people
• American atheists
• American rock musicians
• The Mothers of Invention members
• American male screenwriters
• Record producers from New York (state)
• Songwriters from New York (state)
• American male singers
• American male actors
• American session musicians
• The Turtles members
• Jewish American musicians
• Westchester High School (Los Angeles) alumni

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