Howard Kaylan
How Not To Be Me: A Success Story
(or How To Raise A Show Biz Legend)
Original First Publication!
Howard Kaylan -- lead singer (the one with the beard) of the 60s super
group The Turtles, composer, writer, radio personality, actor,
screenwriter -- tells all! Well, part of it anyway. When your career
encompasses being in the first rock and roll band to ever play at the
White House (for Tricia Nixon's birthday) to being one of Frank Zappa's
Mothers of Invention to singing background for the likes of John Lennon,
Bruce Springsteen, and The Ramones to composing for "The Care Bears" to
penning a full-length feature film -- it's hard to contain between two
covers. Kaylan reviews each epoch of his career and offers, with the
incontrovertible clarity of hindsight, advice on what he SHOULD have
done and what YOU should do to achieve semi-stardom. A rock 'n'
rollicking cautionary tale from a versatile wit and still vital
performer.
Trade Paperback
and Hardcover editions
Howard Kaylan
Howard Kaylan, is a founding member and the lead singer of the
60s super group known as The Turtles. Born in New York City, young
Howard studied choral music and clarinet during his
formative years in Los Angeles and won the Bank of America Fine Arts
Award at the age of 16. Shortly thereafter, he graduated early from
Westchester High School as valedictorian and began on a scholarship at
UCLA. He enjoyed his time on the university's radio station even
more than academia, so when destiny called and his weekend combo was
signed to produce its first record, Kaylan quit school and decided to
take his chances.
The Turtles went on to phenomenal success with ten top-ten singles
and over five years of chart recordings. They performed all over the
world and their signature hit, "Happy Together" knocked the Beatles'
"Penny Lane" out of the number one slot in America. The Turtles were
fixtures on television appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show a number of
times as well as the Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour and countless
others. In 1970, they were selected to be the first rock and roll band
to ever play at the White House (for Tricia Nixon's birthday) and yet, the
following week, they were headlining at the world-famous Fillmore
Auditorium in New York.
When the band broke up at the end of 1970, Howard and his partner Mark Volman
turned down offers to join other groups and signed on as members of
Frank Zappa's elite band of musical comedians, The Mothers of Invention.
Five albums and the motion picture, 200 Motels came from the
partnership -- as did the nom de musique "Flo and Eddie" as Kaylan and Volman
were not allowed legal use of their own names until multiple Turtle
lawsuits were settled. Flo and Eddie made four albums and produced many albums for others
as well as singing background on over 100 albums. They
can be heard singing with John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, The
Ramones, Blondie, Duran Duran, The Psychedelic Furs, T. Rex, Alice
Cooper and dozens more.
In the 1980s, the partners began writing comedy and scripts with Chris
Bearde, Larry Gelbart and Carl Gotleib. Simultaneously, they started
writing regularly featured columns for Creem, Phonograph Record Magazine,
and the infamous L.A. Free Press. Flo and Eddie also became the composers for two
very successful animated television projects, Strawberry Shortcake and
The Care Bears.
The duo also began a career in radio, beginning their own show on L.A.'s famous KMET
and then syndication, another show on
WLIR in New York, and, in 1989, on K-ROCK (WXRK) in New York City.
In 1985, the old lawsuits were finally settled and the name "The
Turtles" reverted to Kaylan and his partner after fifteen years in
litigation, as well as all of the master recordings they made. Thanks
to Burger King, the NFL, Sony Playstation, and countless other
television commercials and motion pictures, the Turtles' catalog remains
a staple for licensing and reproduction in the twenty-first century.
In 2001, Howard wrote a treatment for a very short film about his first
night on tour in London. After bringing it to his friend (and Rhino
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 became a full-length feature. My
Dinner with Jimi is the first
film written by Howard Kaylan. The film garnered Kaylan recognition for
"best screenplay" at the
2003 Slamdunk Film Festival in Park City, Utah,
Kaylan is also a published fiction writer and throughout his career(s)
he has dabbled in acting. (He portrayed "Captain Cloud" in Get Crazy starring Malcolm McDowell
and Daniel Stern, portrayed an orthodox minister who "married" Laura to Stavros
in a dream sequence on General Hospital, and has had roles on Suddenly
Susan and the Garry Shandling Show.) The Turtles continue to perform,
doing between 60 and 75 concerts each
year.
