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 Artist Profile: The Mamas and the Papas
The Mamas and the Papas were a crucial part of the harmony-rich pop-group movement that swept Southern California in the Sixties. With their mix of male (John Phillips, Denny Doherty) and female (Cass Elliot, Michelle Phillips) voices, astute songwriting and arrangements from Phillips and musical contributions from some of Los Angeles' finest session musicians, the Mamas and the Papas cut some of the most indelible and durable records of the sixties.
John Phillips had been active on the New York music scene since 1957. In 1962, he met Holly Michelle Gilliam who had come to New York to be a model. She started singing with John's group, The Journeymen and soon after, became his second wife.
Denny Doherty had been a member of The Halifax Three, which, after two albums for Epic, included future Lovin' Spoonful member Zal Yanovsky. Doherty and Yanovsky joined Cass Elliot and her first husband, Jim Hendricks to form Cass Elliot and the Big Three. The group later changed its name to the Mugwumps and went electric, with Art Stokes on drums and John Sebastian on harmonica.
The Mugwumps recorded one album, which was not released until 1967, and broke up. Sebastian and Yanovsky formed The Lovin' Spoonful, Elliot fronted a jazz trio and Doherty joined John and Michelle Phillips as The New Journeymen. The New Journeymen relocated to California, where they stayed with Elliot and Hendricks and Cass officially joined the group. Before landing their own recording contract, the quartet did some backing vocals for Barrie McGuire.
The group's first album, "If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears", contained the timeless "California Dreamin'" and stands as a peak moment in the West Coast vocal-group sound.
Along with writing much of the Mamas and Papas' material, John Phillips also wrote a song that would be remembered as a sort of theme song of the flower power era in California. Scott McKenzie, an ex-Journeyman, scored a number 4 hit in the U.S. with "San Francisco" (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair). The Mamas and Papas also appeared at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, which John Phillips helped to finance.
By 1968, the group was falling apart and decided to disband. John and Michelle were having marriage problems and divorced in 1970. John went on to record a solo LP and also co-produced the movie "Brewster McCloud". Michelle Phillips appeared in "The Last Movie" with actor Dennis Hopper, to whom she was later married for eight days
http://www.dennydoherty.com
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