Reunion to honor Turtles guitarist Jim Tucker
For three years in the mid-1960s, South Bay native Jim Tucker rode high on the wave of rock music fame as the rhythm guitarist for the Turtles.
Tucker and his bandmates released “Happy Together” in 1967, and the uplifting tune became one of the most-performed songs of the 20th century.
But before reaching the pinnacle of rock music fame, Tucker surfed the waves near the Marine lifeguard tower in Manhattan Beach, played sports and attended Aviation High School in Redondo Beach.
James Roy Tucker, who spent much of his life in Grass Valley, died Nov. 12 at the age of 74 from heart issues. Friends and family plan to honor him at an all-class reunion Friday.
Tucker, whom friends and family remember as an outstanding cook whose smile lit up a room, left the spotlight of the Turtles when he was only 21 years old.
In the decades that followed, he took over his father’s company, Tucker Elec
tric, working as an electrician for more than 40 years. Tucker later changed the name to Jim Tucker Electric.
Tucker’s daughter, Kari Tucker, who lives in St. George, Utah, said there will be an intimate ceremony of friends and family, including her sister Bailey, prior to the public event at 2 p.m., at Grunions in Manhattan Beach.
“We’re going to get to go out and spread some of his ashes out in the ocean where he use to surf,” Kari Tucker said. “It’s going to be really special.”
Lynn and Eddie deCamp will be among those who honor Tucker at the Aviation reunion. They had known Tucker since elementary school in Manhattan Beach.
“We kind of had a squad and we went everywhere,” Lynn deCamp said. “Because back in those days, you went out of your house at eight and you didn’t come home until your dad or whoever whistled, and then we would all go running. But we just grew up carefree.”
Eddie deCamp, who graduated with Tucker from Aviation High in 1964, said he and Tucker spent their childhoods filled with baseball, riding bikes and skateboards, surfing and competing in the Manhattan Beach Soap Box Derby.
The deCamps stayed friends with Tucker through the years and he would often stay with them when he came from Grass Valley for the Aviation High reunions.
“Jim called it like he saw it,” Lynn deCamp said. “He was funny. He made you laugh. And he always had a smile on his face.”
The Turtles rise to fame
Before the group became The Turtles, it was a surf rock group called the Nightriders. Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan formed that group at Westchester High School. The Nightriders eventually became the Crossfires. Tucker, as an Aviation student, joined in 1965, the same year the band name changed to The Turtles.
The band’s first single was also its first hit, a cover of Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe” in August 1965.
A couple of more hit singles followed, including “Let Me Be” in 1965 and “You Baby” in 1966. But The Turtles reached pop immortality with “Happy Together” in March 1967, which No. 1 on the Billboard charts. The same year, the band released the hits “She’d Rather Be With Me,” “You Know What I Mean” and “She’s My Girl.”
But the band never reached the heights of “Happy Together” again and disbanded in 1970.
Kari Tucker said her father would occasionally talk about his time with The Turtles, being on talk shows such as the “Ed Sullivan Show” and traveling with the band. She said music was always a big part of his life.
He played guitar with a local band called Mogollon in Grass Valley, she said, and would join them on stage at the Nevada County Fair.
“They called him up on stage and he loved that, he looked forward to it every year,” Kari Tucker said. “He would just jam with the band and everyone loved to see it.”
Kari Tucker said she has memories of playing guitar with her father when she was little and of him teaching her son Easton to play guitar.
There are also the memories as a child, being in pajamas and going to McDonald’s for his black coffee.
“I would buy gift cards for Christmas,” Kari Tucker said, “just to McDonald’s, for his beloved coffee.”
Kari Tucker said his friends and family miss his “great spirit.”
“We just loved him so much,” she said, “and had the most amazing bond.”
The Aviation High School All Class Reunion is scheduled for 2 p.m. Fridayat Grunions Sports Bar & Grill, 1501 N. Sepulveda Blvd., in Manhattan Beach.