Mark Volman & Susan Cowsill Enjoy Bringing Feel Good Music to Appreciative Fans
By: Jeff Walker, Entertainment Writer
Not only is the song ‘Happy Together’ a chart-topping single from 1967, it’s also the name of a successful long running tour featuring The Turtles and various other acts from the late 1960’s and early 70’s. For over three decades among some of the more popular acts on the ‘Happy Together’ tour have been Mitch Ryder, Gary Lewis (The Playboys), Mark Lindsay (Paul Revere & the Raiders), Mark Farner, and Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees.
Over the past several years the lineup has been the same with The Turtles alongside Gary Puckett & the Union Gap, The Association, The Vogues, The Buckinghams, and The Cowsills. The tour includes multi-talented singer Ron Dante of The Archies fame. Together the six groups have over 30 recognizable songs that blasted out of Top 40 radio stations back in the day. The current complement of groups returns to the Charleston Music Hall on Wednesday June 8th.
Barely out of high school vocalist and guitarist Mark Volman and The Turtles scored instant success cracking the Top 10 with a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’. Over the next four years the band would have a string of radio friendly hits including ‘You Baby’, ‘She’d Rather Be with Me’, ‘You Know What I Mean’, ‘Elenore’, and ‘She’s My Girl’, with ‘Happy Together’ remaining their signature song.
According to Volman ‘Happy Together’ has had a life of its own. Over the past five decades ‘Happy Together’ has been in countless movies and TV shows. “The song lives on. Like many of the songs during that time period, it’s a feel-good song. Honestly I never get tired of playing that song for appreciative fans.” It’s provided a nice financial dividend for Volman as well. “It helped put a couple of daughters through college and paid for some other things in life. I can’t complain.”
Just 18 when his career took off, Volman agrees his musical journey came at an opportune time. “The country and the world were in an uproar. Vietnam War was just escalating. I had friends going off to college, but Howard (Kaylan) and I had this dream of making music and that’s where our focus was.” Outside of that Volman had little expectations. “Hotrods, cheeseburgers, girls, and the beach were all I knew back then.”
Not long after landing on the radio, The Turtles took off. “Almost overnight people knew who we were. It was a crazy time. We joined in on Dick Clark’s Rock n’ Roll Caravan of Stars. Here we are playing on the same stage as people like Tom Jones, Brian Hyland, The Shirelles and Peter & Gordon. We had a lot of fun and it happened almost overnight.”
Success carried The Turtles all the way to the White House. “President Nixon’s daughter Tricia was having a coming out party and two of her favorite groups were The Turtles and The Temptations. So, we played. It wasn’t a political thing. Honestly it was just an honor to have played at the White House.”
By the early 70’s the group disbanded with Volman and Kaylan pretty much carrying the torch. They rebranded themselves as Flo & Eddie and after many years regained ownership of The Turtles name hitting the oldies circuit in the 1980’s and never looking back.
With the pandemic hopefully in the rear view mirror the Happy Together 2022 tour is back out on the road. “The groups we have on this tour are like a travelling family to us. We all get along. Everyone loves doing what we do. I’m excited to get back out there.”
He adds, “I believe, and I hope the public is ready to get together again and what better way than a ‘Happy Together’ tour. Our music celebrates life. It celebrates some of the greatest songs from the 1960’s. We usually go out around this time of year. So our music is a great way to kick start the summer.”
While Volman was on the cusp of adulthood, Susan Cowsill was still in grade school when she was added into the family pop group. Just eight years old when The Cowsills started to take off, Susan admits she had an unusual life back then. “To be accurate my elementary years were brief. I had a regular first and second grade, but after that it was The Cowsills for me. I did go to ninth grade, but that I was it.”
She remembers it all too well. “I knew my life was different from other kids my age. Really, I didn’t miss not having to get up for school or riding on the bus. Not long after I became an official member of the group it just became a lifestyle for me. Playing concerts, recording, being on TV was my new norm.”
Along with her older brothers and mother The Cowsills would land a handful of songs on Top 40 radio. Their debut single ‘The Rain, the Park & Other Things’ made it to number two. They followed that with ‘We Can Fly’ and another Top 10 hit ‘Indian Lake’. “We definitely were making a splash during that time period.”
The Cowsills’ most recognizable hit was a huge smash topping several charts in several countries. Originally meant to be a part of a TV special embracing the new hippy movement the group covered the main song from the Broadway musical ‘Hair’. Their version got picked up by a Midwest radio stations with the record label releasing it in early 1969.
“I think initially the record label didn’t think it was typical Cowsills material. But they’re often wrong. I know when a DJ played it the switchboard literally lit up with requests. That no doubt sent a message to our label.”
For those who recall, The Cowsills were the model family for the hit TV show ‘The Partridge Family’. “Because we were really the first to have siblings and a mom in the same group, they wanted to capitalize on that. It took a few years before the show made it on the air, and even though they considered several Cowsills to take part, I think we just kind of grew out of it. My mom was a definite no.”
Even though she and The Cowsills didn’t meet the actors including David Cassidy or Shirley Jones prior to it debuting on TV they did have a part. “We met with the producers and writers. I guess they wanted to feel us out.” Friendships did forge after. “We’re friends with several of the cast members now. Recently we took part in an event giving David a star in Las Vegas.”
By the mid 1970’s The Cowsills faded from radio, with many family members going their own way. “Honestly I didn’t know what I was going to do. Being in The Cowsills was all I knew and it came to an end, and here I was only 14 at the time.”
Susan would go on to record as a solo act. By the 1980’s she found work as a background singer, both in studio and on the road. Among the artists and acts she’s sang with are Carlene Carter, The Smithereens, Dwight Twilley, and South Carolina’s very own Hootie & the Blowfish.
“Everybody knew I could sing and carry a tune so the work just kind of came.” She developed a working partnership with Vicky Peterson of the all-girl group The Bangles eventually forming the Continental Drifters and the Psycho Sisters. After more than 20 years together the Psycho Sisters released their first album in 2014 ‘Up on the Chair, Beatrice’
Low country Hootie fans might be interested to know that Susan’s first husband Peter Holsapple was an auxiliary musician for the band. “I know all the guys from Hootie. I would go out on the road with them. Love those guys and their music. Had a lot of fun back in the day with Hootie.”
While The Cowsills still perform separately Susan along with Bob and Paul have taken part in the Happy Together tour singing their hits for appreciative fans. “I can speak for my brothers, we’re having an awesome time. This is one big family out on the road. We love re-living the songs that made us who we are. Quite frankly we love playing them for audiences too. We welcome them singing along.” She adds, “My life is all about music and all about sharing that music with other people.”
The Happy Together 2022 tour makes a concert pit stop at the Charleston Music Hall on Wednesday June 8th. For more info or tickets visit their website at https://www.charlestonmusichall.com/event/happy-together-2022-tour/
