The Mamas and the Papas

views updated

The Mamas and the Papas

One of the most commercially successful folk-rock groups of the mid-1960s, the Mamas and the Papas were known for their rich vocal harmonies as well as their unconventional appearance. The group's four founding members only sang together for a few years, but their recordings, which included nine Top Forty hits, made a lasting impact on pop music. Their first single, "California Dreamin'," established them as part of a new Los Angeles-based hippie music scene, even though they initially came together as a folk act in New York's Greenwich Village. Few pop groups featured a combination of male and female voices, and this rare sound became a factor in the Mamas and the Papas' popularity among adults. During the early 1960s, pop music was designed primarily for teenagers. With the advent of performers like the Mamas and the Papas, who used their folk background to create complex arrangements for catchy, intelligent songs, older listeners began buying pop albums. By the time the group disbanded due to personal differences in 1968, other artists such as the Beach Boys and the Beatles were also producing more intricate music. In a relatively short time, the Mamas and the Papas managed to earn the appreciation of a substantial audience that endured for decades after they ceased singing together.

The son of a Marine Corps officer, John Edmund Andrew Phillips was born in 1935, on Parris Island, South Carolina. He played the guitar in high school, and he began performing at folk clubs in his early twenties. In addition to his interest in folk music, Phillips was intrigued by vocal groups with smooth harmonies such as the Hi-Los. He formed his own folk quartet, which evolved into the Journeymen, a trio that included Scott McKenzie and Dick Weissman. They were successful during the early 1960s as part of the urban folk revival that had begun at the end of the previous decade. While performing in San Francisco, Phillips met and fell in love with Holly Michelle Gilliam (1944—), a seventeen-year-old California native. They were married on New Year's Eve in 1962, and by 1964, John, Michelle, and Marshall Brickman were singing together as the New Journeymen. As the group toured, John recruited a tenor from Nova Scotia named Denny Doherty (1941—), who had previously sung with the Halifax Three. In 1965, Brickman left the group, and the three remaining members traveled to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands to rehearse new songs John had written. There they were joined by a friend of Doherty's named Cass Elliot (1941-1974), born Ellen Naomi Cohen in Baltimore, Maryland. Doherty and Elliot had sung together as part of the Big Three, which became the Mugwumps, a group that included John Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky, future founders of the Lovin' Spoonful. Later, John Phillips would mention these and other names in the song "Creeque Alley," which explained how the Mamas and the Papas came together.

Phillips realized that folk music's popularity was waning, and his new compositions were designed for a pop act using electric instruments. After working on this material in the Virgin Islands, John and Michelle Phillips, Doherty, and Elliot went to Los Angeles, where they auditioned for producer Lou Adler of Dunhill Records. He offered them a contract, and they decided to call themselves the Mamas and the Papas. Their first single was to be "Go Where You Wanna Go," until Adler changed his mind and released "California Dreamin'," which became a Top Ten record early in 1966. It was followed a few months later by the single "Monday, Monday" and the group's first album, If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears, both of which went to number one on the Billboard charts. The group developed a hippie image, often wearing long, flowing robes on stage. Despite their sudden tremendous success as performers, the Mamas and the Papas were not faring well offstage. Shortly after the band was signed, John discovered that Michelle and Doherty were having an affair. In June of 1966, Michelle was fired from the group for a few months, until she and John reconciled their differences. During 1967, John and Adler helped organize the Monterey Pop Festival, and John wrote a song for his former bandmate Scott McKenzie entitled "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" that became a pop anthem for young people seeking out the California counterculture. That year the Mamas and the Papas continued recording and performing sporadically, but by the end of the following year they made the decision to split up.

Mama Cass, as Elliot was commonly known, was the only member of the group to become a successful solo artist, and she performed up until her death in 1974 from heart failure caused by her excessive weight and drug abuse. A false report that she died choking on a ham sandwich became a widely believed myth that persisted for decades after her death. John and Michelle Phillips were divorced in 1970, two years after the birth of their daughter Chynna, who became part of the pop act Wilson Phillips in the early 1990s. Michelle took up acting, appearing in various films and on television during the 1970s and 1980s. John continued songwriting and producing while suffering from an increasingly severe drug addiction that lasted until 1980, when he was arrested on federal charges. After serving a very brief sentence, he stopped using narcotics and became an anti-drug spokesperson. He made numerous public appearances, accompanied by his daughter Mackenzie, a star on television's One Day at a Time and also a recovering drug addict. In the early 1980s, John and Mackenzie revived the Mamas and the Papas, along with Doherty, who had failed in his efforts to pursue a solo career, and Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane, from the 1960s group Spanky and Our Gang. The original Mamas and Papas were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, as their recordings continued to demonstrate a collective vocal talent rarely found in pop music.

—Anna Hunt Graves