Mark Volman photographed for People at home on May 25, 2023 in Franklin, TN.Photo:Hollis Bennett
Hollis Bennett
The Turtles’ founding member Mark Volman, 76, is opening up for the first time about his diagnosis with Lewy body dementia in an exclusive story in this week’s issue ofPEOPLE.The “Happy Together” singer learned he had the progressive neurological disorder in 2020 after experiencing hallucinations, tremors and struggles with concentration. But with a new book out and a tour, Volman is continuing to live a full life despite the devastating disease, the same illness thatTed TurnerandRobin Williamswere diagnosed with.
At his home outside Nashville, Mark Volman pauses for a moment to examine a red floral sofa across the room. “Do you see a woman with her head bleeding?” he asks, eyeing the sofa. No, he’s told, it’s just a couch.
Volman, a founding member of the ’60s rock bandThe Turtles, has a history with this particular piece of furniture: During the isolation of the pandemic, his mind began to distort the crimson floral pattern into the alarming vision he’s just seen. To obscure the design that triggers the illusion, the sofa is usually hidden under a plain duvet cover. But on this day, for a PEOPLE photo shoot, the duvet cover has been removed, and the “woman” has reappeared. Volman wants to make certain she isn’t real. “Youdon’tsee the woman with her head bleeding?” he says again. No, he’s reassured. “OK,” he says, matter-of-factly, and then returns to posing for the camera.
The Turtles (with Mark Volman, bottom right) had a string of hits in the ’60s, including “Happy Together”.Alamy
Alamy
Since his diagnosis in 2020, Volman has been learning to live with the challenges of the disease, including fluctuations in cognitive ability and awareness, visual hallucinations, disturbed REM sleep disorder and tremors and Parkinson-like movement symptoms. He also knows that what’s ahead will be even more difficult. Over time, the effects of the disease will progress into a “slow decline that will eventually interfere with his ability to function,” says Pilote, who specializes in cognitive neurology.
Volman began his musical career in Los Angeles with that same sort of optimism. In 1963 he joined high school classmate Howard Kaylan’s band the Crossfires as a roadie, but his harmonizing talents soon elevated him to what he calls “second banana” status in the group. Renamed the Turtles, the band had its first Top 10 hit in 1965 with a version ofBob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe.”
The Turtles performing on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1967.CBS via Getty
CBS via Getty
Several hits followed, including their trademark, “Happy Together,” which in 1967 knockedthe Beatles’“Penny Lane” off the top slot. With his mass of curly hair, wide grin and infectioustambourine-twirling energy, Volman was a standout.
In 1970, however, not long after playing a show at the White House for President Richard Nixon’s daughter Tricia (they were her favorite band), the Turtles broke up amid a dispute with their record company, and Volman and Kaylan began performing as the duo Flo & Eddie, joining Frank Zappa’s band the Mothers of Invention and appearing on albums for artists as varied asAlice Cooper, T. Rex andDuran Duran.
Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, a.ka. Flo & Eddie, with Ozzy Osbourne for their radio show.Courtesy Mark Volman
Courtesy Mark Volman
The memories of those heady days, partying withJohn LennonandJimi Hendrix, singing withBruce SpringsteenandBono, are chronicled in his new memoirHappy Forever,out June 20. “It all sounds like a dream now,” Volman says. “I’m just a groupie at heart.”
Volman’s memoir is out June 20.
The musician’s career took another surprising turn when he went back to school in his 40s and graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a master’s in screenwriting in 1999. By 2018 he was on the faculty of Belmont University in Nashville heading a music business program, when he found himself struggling to get through his lectures. “I remember slurring, and I wasn’t sure what was going on,” he says. “My brain wandered. I’d go off track. It made no sense.”
Improbably, those people include his two ex-wives, who both live within a few miles of Volman and who, along with his two grown daughters, help him daily. “He gets anxious at times — like any grieving process, it ebbs and flows,” says Emily Volman, who was married to Mark for 15 years, until 2015. “But he’s a ‘live for today’ person.”
Mark Volman photographed for PEOPLE at home in May.Hollis Bennett
On medication to help control his tremors and hallucinations (“Mark has remarkable self-awareness of those, which has been helpful in his quality of life,” Pilote says), Volman is devoted to daily exercise. “We call him the mayor of the Y,” says Emily. He visits the YMCA daily for circuit training, boxing classes and to walk.
He seizes upon the moments when he can laugh at himself, even though he’s aware of difficult days to come. “Right now, for me, it’s not scary, although it probably should be,” Volman says.
Being on the road is demanding, even for young musicians with no health issues, but, Volman, who has been on tour since May, says performing “has been tremendous.” And staying active can benefit patients with LBD, Pilote says. “Living with dementia with Lewy bodies, you still have to live,” she says. “It’s important to engage in the things you enjoy, optimize your strengths, spend time doing the things you love with the people you love. And Mark is an excellent example of that. He’s continued to live despite this diagnosis.”
And Volman says he doesn’t plan to stop. “The challenges of this world affect everybody, and it’s been kind of fun being on the other side of a challenge like this and saying, ‘I feel good.’ My friends are here. I’m still here. And I want people to connect with me.”
source: people.com
