Donald Ray Murray (November 8, 1945 – March 22, 1996) was an American

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

and

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

animator, best known for his work with

the Turtles ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

. After leaving the group, Murray played with Paul Williams's psychedelic folk group

the Holy Mackerel The Holy Mackerel was an American psychedelic pop band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1968. Created mainly as a studio venture to capitalize on Paul Williams' early success as a songwriter, the group recorded one self-titled studio album ...

. In the 1980s he went on to perform with the newly formed Surfaris.

Early life

Murray grew up in

Inglewood, California Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 107,762. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. The city is in the South Bay ...

and started playing drums at the age of 15. He became popular playing high school dances with the band the Crossfires.

Career

The Turtles

The Crossfires released one album, Out Of Control, in 1963. By 1965, the Crossfires became

, but the band had troubles playing at most Southern California venues such as the

Whisky a Go Go The Whisky a Go Go (informally nicknamed "the Whisky") is a historic nightclub in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip, corner North Clark Street, opposite North San Vicente Boul ...

and the

Troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...

, because all members of the band were under 21. As the band went from high school band "Don Murray And The Crossfires" to "The Turtles", they signed to

White Whale Records White Whale Records was an American independent record label, founded in 1965 by Ted Feigin and Lee Lasseff in Los Angeles, California, and probably best known as the record label of The Turtles and a handful of one-hit wonder bands. White Whale, i ...

in 1965. As a member of the Turtles, he played on their debut and second album;

It Ain't Me Babe "It Ain't Me Babe" is a song by Bob Dylan that originally appeared on his fourth album ''Another Side of Bob Dylan'', which was released in 1964 by Columbia Records. According to music critic Oliver Trager, this song, along with others on the albu ...

(1965) and

You Baby ''You Baby'' is the second studio album by the American rock band the Turtles ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listen ...

(1966). After appearances on ''Shindig''!, ''

Where the Action Is ''Where the Action Is'' is a music-based television variety show that aired in the United States from 1965 to 1967. It was carried by the ABC network and aired each weekday afternoon. Created by Dick Clark as a spin-off of ''American Bandstand' ...

'', and ''Hullabaloo'', as well as a cameo in the 1966 film ''Out of Sight'', Turtles frontman

Howard Kaylan Howard Kaylan (born Howard Lawrence Kaplan, June 22, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter, best known as a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s rock band The Turtles, and, along with bandmate and friend Mark Volman, a member of th ...

and the other band members tossed Murray out of The Turtles after their first gig in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, saying "Don thought it was still his high school band". Murray was interviewed along with former Turtle members

Mark Volman Mark Randall Volman (born April 19, 1947) is an American vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the 1960s rock band The Turtles, and, along with his bandmate and friend Howard Kaylan, a member of the 1970s rock duo ...

, Jim Tucker, Chuck Portz,

Jim Pons Jim Pons is an American bassist, author and singer who most notably played for the Leaves, the Turtles, and the Mothers of Invention. Biography Jim Pons was born in Los Angeles. In 1964, he joined The Leaves and stayed in the group until 1967. ...

, and

Johnny Barbata John Barbata (born April 1, 1945) is an American drummer who was active especially in pop and rock bands in the 1960s and 1970s, both as a band member and as a session drummer. Barbata has served as the drummer for The Turtles, Crosby, Stills, ...

in the 1991 documentary “''The Turtles: Happy Together''”.

The Holy Mackerel

In 1968, Paul Williams, who was still a struggling musician trying to make it big in the music industry, recruited Murray to join his

Psychedelic folk Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelia that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of folk, but adds musical elements common to psychedelic music. Chara ...

group

The Holy Mackerel The Holy Mackerel was an American psychedelic pop band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1968. Created mainly as a studio venture to capitalize on Paul Williams' early success as a songwriter, the group recorded one self-titled studio album ...

. In March 1968, the Holy Mackerel began work on their self-titled album at

Sunset Sound Studios Sunset Sound Recorders is a recording studio in Hollywood, California, United States located at 6650 Sunset Boulevard. Background The Sunset Sound Recorders complex was created by Walt Disney's Director of Recording, Tutti Camarata, from a collec ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. During process on the album, Don left to continue performing independently, and was replaced by Dewey Martin, previously of

Buffalo Springfield Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song "For What It's Worth", relea ...

The Sufaris

In 1981, Murray was a member of the reformed version of the surf rock group

The Surfaris The Surfaris are an American surf rock band formed in Glendora, California, United States, in 1962. They are best known for two songs that hit the charts in the Los Angeles area, and nationally by May 1963: "Surfer Joe" and " Wipe Out", which ...

. His only credit with the band is a 1983 live album.

Later life

In the 1970s Murray was an art director for ''Skateboarder'' magazine, and also for ''Hot Rod'' magazine. By the 1980s, he was working as an animator for

Death

Murray was admitted to a hospital in January 1996 for

ulcer An ulcer is a discontinuity or break in a bodily membrane that impedes normal function of the affected organ. According to Robbins's pathology, "ulcer is the breach of the continuity of skin, epithelium or mucous membrane caused by sloughing o ...

surgery, and died two months later in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

on March 22 from complications of the surgery aged 50.

Discography

The Turtles

Studio albums

Singles

The Holy Mackerel

Albums

The Surfaris

Albums

References

External links

Don Murray memorial at Surfrider.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Don 1945 births 1996 deaths The Turtles members 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century American male musicians Hanna-Barbera people