Markley

Born August 25, 1935, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and passing away September 9, 2003, in Gardena, California, Bob Markley was a notable figure in the Los Angeles music scene of the 1960s. The adopted son of an oil tycoon and a law graduate, Markley moved to Los Angeles around 1960 with aspirations of stardom. While already a local television personality in Oklahoma, his initial endeavors in Hollywood, both in film and as a pop singer, yielded limited success.

Around the same period, brothers Shaun Harris (born 1946 in Colorado Springs) and Danny Harris (born 1947 in Colorado Springs), sons of composer Roy Harris, also relocated to Los Angeles. By 1963, they were performing with a teen surf band called The Snowmen. Their attendance at Hollywood Professional School in 1964 led to a meeting with Michael Lloyd (born 1948), who had previously played in various groups, most recently The Rogues. The Harris brothers and Lloyd decided to form a new band, initially named The Laughing Wind, and recorded demos for mutual friend and record producer Kim Fowley.