When White Whale signed the Turtles, they were known as "The Crossfires"; a surf music band looking to change their style, as surf music was fading. The label encouraged a name change to "The Tyrtles", in the manner of The Beatles and The Byrds. The band accepted the new name, but not the variant spelling. Relations between the label and the band were not always smooth, with White Whale pressuring the band for "more hits", then for singers Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman to fire the rest of the group, and work instead with hired musicians, to save costs. Kaylan wrote the song "Elenore" as a humorous take on "Happy Together" (the only #1 hit for both the group and the White Whale label), which ironically became a hit itself. He and Volman also democratized the group, insisting everyone share in the writing and vocal duties, despite what the label wanted.
When the Turtles disbanded, White Whale lost their big moneymaker, and the label went out of business in the early 1970s. White Whale's assets were sold at auction, including the Turtles's master recordings – whose winners were Kaylan and Volman, making them the owners of their own works.
Three compilations of singles from the label have been released on CD: "Happy Together: The Very Best of White Whale Records," and two volumes of the "Phantom Jukebox" series on Rev-Ola records [1].
In 1966 brother and sister act Nino Tempo and April Stevens recorded All Strung Out (on you) for the label, bringing Tempo's talents as Phil Spector's right hand man for so many years to the recording, it mid charted, but is still a powerful, but unheralded teen age symphony.
