Don Murray (drummer)

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I was very close friends with Don Murray's daughter, Jennifer, in junior high school (1979-81). We went to Lampson Jr. High School in Garden Grove, CA (also attended by comedian Steve Martin, who graduated much, much earlier than Jennifer and I). I won't divulge the sordid details of our adolescent escapades, but suffice it to say that Jennifer was a beautiful and wild young lady with much chutzpa and talent (including a great singing voice). On a darker note, Jennifer struggled with an incredibly terrible home life, courtesy of her mother, Kathy and Kathy's husband (or was it her domestic partner?), Jim, each of whom were drug addicts at that time. Jim perpetrated domestic violence against both Kathy and Jennifer.

Don Murray (November 8, 1945 – March 22, 1996) was an American drummer, best known for his work with The Turtles.

Murray became popular playing high school dances as "Don Murray & The Crossfires".

A year later the Crossfires became the Turtles, they had troubles playing at most SoCal venues like the Whiskey A Go Go, Troubadores,etc because all members of the band were under 21.

Don married his high school sweetheart Kathy Knuntz as the band hit the big time, they soon had a daughter, Jenny.

The band opened for larger "British Invasion" bands at first, like Hermins Hermitts, Peter & Gordon,etc before finally getting into "around the country[USA]touring that summer.

Murray once said of Peter & Gordon, "they thought London was the bloodly capital of the world".

While in NYC, they starred at the Phone Booth, met Dylan, whose song "Ain't Me Babe" was their first big hit.

Murray was always cheered loudest by the fans and a few of the members, mainly Kaylen and Volman thought "Don thinks this is still his high school band", a meeting in NYC in their hotel room, Murray was fired.

"You Baby" came out just about that time and the Turtles went from a cool band to a pop band overnight. Their stupid contracts kept them playing corny songs written for bubble gum'rs and the band, though turning out several more popular tunes, hated what they were doing and the writing was on the wall.

Murray grew up in Inglewood, California and started playing drums at the age of 15. He was a founding member of "The Crossfires", which eventually became The Turtles. He left the band in 1967, at least partly because of their heaving touring schedule.

He was admitted to a hospital in January 1996 for ulcer surgery, and died two months later from post-operative complications.