Post Turtles

Kaylan and Volman (accompanied by Pons) joined the Mothers of Invention as The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie, since the use of the Turtles name (and even their own names in billings) was prohibited by their contract with White Whale. Frank Zappa claimed that his association with Kaylan and Volman was inspired by a DJ's comment that he could make the Mothers as big as the Turtles. If you want to be as big as the Turtles, have a few Turtles in your band, Zappa reportedly claimed. The collaboration with Zappa lasted until a jealous fan attacked and seriously injured Zappa when the Mothers were performing at the Rainbow Theatre in December, 1971. [citation needed]

Kaylan and Volman also sang back up vocals on several recordings by T.Rex beginning in 1970, including their world-wide hit Get it On (Bang A Gong) and albums Electric Warrior and The Slider.

Flo & Eddie, as they soon became known, recorded albums with the Mothers and later released a series of records on their own. They also recorded soundtrack music for children's shows like the Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake, and began hosting their own radio show on KROQ in Los Angeles and WXRK in New York City. Flo & Eddie also are credited with backing vocals on Bruce Springsteen's single, Hungry Heart, from The River.

In 1983, Howard Kaylan appeared in the rock-n-roll comedy film Get Crazy, starring Malcolm McDowell and Daniel Stern. Kaylan played the part of 'Captain Cloud' a spiritual guru type of character, leader of a caravan of time lost gypsy-like hippies.

When White Whale's master recordings were sold at auction, the winning bidders of the Turtles masters were Kaylan and Volman, making them the owners of their own recorded work.( The duo promptly licensed the tracks to Sire Records in 1975, who issued the compilation Happy Together Again .) In 1984 (see 1984 in music), they legally regained the use of the Turtles name, and began touring as The Turtles... Featuring Flo and Eddie. Instead of trying to reunite with their earlier bandmates, they began featuring all-star sidemen who had played with different groups.

Also in 1984, they released a new greatest hits CD on Rhino Records, 20 Greatest Hits, and in 1988, released another, Turtle Wax: The Best of The Turtles, Vol. 2, which featured the best of their album tracks and previously-neglected single B-sides.

In 1987, 'Kaylan & Volman' appeared in a new music video of their song Happy Together promoting the romantic comedy Making Mr. Right, starring John Malkovich.

The 1989 debut album by hip-hop combo De La Soul featured an uncredited sample from the Turtles (specifically, the intro to You Showed Me), in the song Transmitting Live from Mars. Kaylan and Volman sued, winning a large settlement, setting a legal precedent, and causing the music industry to begin carefully crediting (and paying royalties for) sampled works on future rap and other recordings. As they explained, We don't hate sampling; we like sampling. If we don't get credit, we sue, and all that stuff (a share of the royalties, plus punitive damages) comes back to us!

In that same year, the romantic-comedy Happy Together based on the musical Cabaret premiered. It starred teen-heart throb Patrick Dempsey and Helen Slater. The Turtles recording of Happy Together was featured in the film as well as the soundtrack album.

Music Club Records released a Turtles anthology in the UK in 1991, Happy Together: The Best of the Turtles. Repertoire Records in Germany released their own compilation, titled Elenore, in 1993, as well as re-releasing the original Happy Together album. Rhino Records also presented Captured Live, a greatest-hits-live album of their 1992 tour, that year. Sundazed Records re-released all of The Turtles' original albums in 1994, and in 1999 Var?se Sarabande released Happy Together: The Best of White Whale Records, which included many of the Turtles' singles.