Representative Albums: "The Best of Flo & Eddie," "Moving Targets," "The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie/Flo & Eddie"
Representative Songs: "Let Me Make Love to You," "Rebecca," "Keep It Warm"
Biography
Self-described as the Partridge Family and Redd Foxx on one album, Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, otherwise known as Flo & Eddie, presented one of the more eclectic duos in the history of rock & roll. Their friendship and musical partnership, which began in their high school choir in Westchester, CA, led at first to a surf band called the Crossfires, which changed its name to the Turtles after its members graduated high school. The Turtles had some of the sweetest, most feel-good sounds in pop music, but underneath the melodic pop there was always an undercurrent of mischief. When the band broke up in 1970, Volman and Kaylan became members of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, which provided them a perfect breeding ground for their quirky ways. Performing under the name the Phlorescent Leech & Eddie, they eventually shortened their moniker to Flo & Eddie. They recorded seven solo albums, eventually producing inexplicably weird reggae albums, but their real name was made by their radio show, which started out in the mid-'70s in Detroit, but eventually ended up on KROQ in California and was syndicated by nearly 50 stations at its peak. Flo & Eddie scored two low-budget films, Dirty Duck and Texas Detour, and, surreally enough, also worked on music for several kids' television shows, including the animated series Strawberry Shortcake and the Care Bears. ~ Stacia Proefrock, All Music Guide
Flo & Eddie (Howard Kaylan, "Eddie", and Mark Volman, "Flo" aka "Phlorescent Leech") are a comedic musical duo. The two were the original founding members of the Top 40pop group The Turtles. After The Turtles dissolved, Kaylan and Volman first joined the Mothers of Invention as "Phlorescent Leech & Eddie". Due to contractual restrictions made early in their career, Mark and Howard were prevented from using the name "The Turtles", as well as their own names in a musical context.[1] The Phlorescent Leech and Eddie were actual nicknames of two of the Mothers of Invention road crew.
When bandleader Frank Zappa was injured during a concert in London in 1971, Kaylan & Volman found themselves at an impasse, as the Mothers of Invention were out of action for a time. They responded to these events by recording The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie on Reprise Records with the other members of the Mothers of Invention.
In 1984, as "The Turtles ...featuring Flo & Eddie", (together with three other groups from the 1960's: Gary Puckett, Spanky and Our Gang, and The Association), they traveled across the US and Canada as "The Happy Together Tour". The following year they got together with The Buckinghams, Gary Lewis and The Grass Roots, for a 1985 version. For eight months, the tour was on the road it was consistently one of the top 10 grossing tours in the country.
