What Is Howard Kaylan's Net Worth?
Howard Kaylan is an American singer, musician, writer, actor, and producer who has a net worth of $4 million. Kaylan is best known for being a founding member of the band The Turtles, and he was a member of the bands Flo & Eddie and The Mothers of Invention. The Turtles released the albums "It Ain't Me Babe" (1965), "You Baby" (1966), "Happy Together" (1967), "The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands" (1968), and "Turtle Soup" (1969), and the band's hit single "Happy Together" reached #1 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart and the "Cashbox" chart and #2 on Canada's "RPM" chart.
Kaylan released the solo album "Dust Bunnies" in 2006, and he published the autobiography "Shell Shocked: My Life with the Turtles, Flo and Eddie, and Frank Zappa, Etc." in 2013. Howard wrote the 2003 film "My Dinner with Jimi," which won the Best Screenplay award at the Slamdunk Film Festival, and he served as an associate producer on the 1991 documentary "The Turtles: Happy Together." As an actor, he has appeared in the films "200 Motels" (1971), "Get Crazy" (1983), and Stephen King's "Riding the Bullet" (2004) and the television series "It's Garry Shandling's Show." (1988) and "Suddenly Susan" (1999).
Early Life
Howard Kaylan was born Howard Lawrence Kaplan on June 22, 1947, in The Bronx, New York City. He grew up in a Jewish household in Utica, New York, and Los Angeles, California. Howard studied clarinet and choral music, and when he was 16 years old, he won a Bank of America Fine Arts Award. Kaylan was valedictorian of his class at Westchester High School and graduated early. He earned a scholarship to University of California, Los Angeles, and briefly took classes there.
Career
In 1965, Howard formed The Turtles with Mark Volman, who he met in the Westchester High a cappella choir. As teenagers, the two were in the band the Nightriders, which later became known as the Crossfires. The Crossfires signed with White Whale Records after releasing the 1963 single "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" / "Fiberglass Jungle," and the band changed its name to The Turtles. The band released its debut album, "It Ain't Me Babe," in 1965, and it reached #98 on the "Billboard" 200 chart and #35 on the "Cashbox" chart. The single "It Ain't Me Babe" / "Almost There" was a top 10 hit on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and "Cashbox" charts, and it was also a hit in Canada, as was the single "It Was a Very Good Year" / "Let the Cold Winds Blow." The Turtles followed "It Ain't Me Babe" with 1966's "You Baby," and 1967's "Happy Together" became their most successful album, reaching #25 on the "Billboard" 200 chart and #15 on the Cashbox" chart. The song "Happy Together" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007, and 1999, it came in at #44 on BMI's list of the "Top 100 Songs of the Century." The "Happy Together" album also included the single "She'd Rather Be with Me" / "The Walking Song," which reached #1 in Canada, #2 on the "Cashbox" chart, #3 on the "Billboard" Hot 100," and #4 on the UK Singles Chart.
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After the Turtles released 1968's "The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands" and 1969's "Turtle Soup," they disbanded in 1970. Kaylan and Volman joined Frank Zappa's band The Mothers of Invention at the end of the year, and they left the group after Zappa was pushed into the orchestra pit at a concert at London's Rainbow Theatre on December 10th, 1971. The band had to go on hiatus while Zappa healed from his injuries, so Howard and Mark started the band Flo & Eddie and signed with Columbia Records. Flo & Eddie released the albums "The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie" (1972), "Flo & Eddie" (1973), "Illegal, Immoral and Fattening" (1975), "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), and "New York "Times" (2009), and they performed on the 1972 Plastic Ono Band album "Sometime In New York City." The duo also sang backing vocals on more than 100 albums, including releases from Alice Cooper, Bruce Springsteen, Steely Dan, David Cassidy, Keith Moon, Blondie, the Ramones, and Duran Duran. In the '90s, Kaylan wrote short stories that were published in the anthologies "Forbidden Acts" and "Phantoms of the Night," and he released the solo album "Dust Bunnies" in 2006. In 2010, he began touring with The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie, and he took part in the "Happy Together Tour" through 2017.
Personal Life
In 2018, it was announced that Howard wouldn't take part in that year's Happy Together Tour due to medical reasons. Mark Volman spoke to "Centerline" about Kaylan missing the tour, stating, "His back has been bothering him for over a decade and it was recommended that he not tour because he can't ride on buses and has a tough time flying and didn't want to deal with a wheelchair. We don't know what the outcome will be, but he has to have surgery or he'll never tour again anyway." In a 2013 interview with "The Austin Chronicle" to promote his autobiography, Howard revealed, "I took it upon myself to do this book before knowing what a strain it would be mentally, on me and on the people around me, including my family, immediate and otherwise, who didn't know a lot of these things. I've got two daughters – one's 24 and one's 44 – and neither one of them had ever heard these stories, let alone my grandchild. And for the women in my life, who were played with or cheated on or otherwise wronged, or the people who wronged me, it's been sort of interesting. I've been in communication with people I haven't spoken with in 40 years."
