Cass Elliot The Mamas & the Papas
When was The Mamas and the Papas formed?
When was The Mamas and the Papas formed?
With two female members, the New Journeymen needed a new name. According to Doherty, Elliot had the inspiration for the band's new name; as written on his website: We're all just lying around vegging out watching TV and discussing names for the group. The New Journeymen was not a handle that was going to hang on this outfit. John was pushing for the Magic Cyrcle. Eech, but none of us could come up with anything better, then we switch the channel and, hey, it's the Hells Angels on the Carson show... And the first thing we hear is: "Now hold on there, Hoss. Some people call our women cheap, but we just call them our Mamas." Cass jumped up: "Yeah! I want to be a Mama." And Michelle is going: "We're the Mamas! We're the Mamas!" OK. I look at John. He's looking at me going: "The Papas?" Problem solved. A toast! To the Mamas and the Papas. Well, after many, many toasts, Cass and John are passed out." Doherty also said that the occasion marked the beginning of his affair with Michelle Phillips. Elliot was in love with Doherty and was displeased when he told her of the affair. Doherty has said that Elliot once proposed to him, but that he was so stoned at the time that he could not even respond. Elliot was known for her sense of humor and optimism, and was considered by some to be the most charismatic member of the group. Her powerful, distinctive voice was a major factor in their success. She is best remembered for her vocals on the group's hits "California Dreamin'", "Monday, Monday", "Words of Love", and the solo "Dream a Little Dream of Me", which the group recorded in 1968 after learning about the death of Fabian Andre, one of the men who co-wrote it, whom Michelle Phillips had met years earlier. Elliot's version is noteworthy for its contemplative pace, whereas almost all earlier recordings of "Dream a Little Dream of Me" (including one by Nat King Cole and another by Ozzie Nelson) had been up-tempo versions--the song having been written in 1931 as a dance tune. The Mamas & the Papas continued to record to meet the terms of their record contract. Their final album was released in 1971. CANNOTANSWER
CANNOTANSWER
Cass Elliot (born Ellen Naomi Cohen; September 19, 1941 – July 29, 1974), widely known as Mama Cass, was an American singer, actress, and member of the singing group The Mamas & the Papas. After the group broke up, Elliot released five solo albums. In 1998, she was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her work with The Mamas & the Papas.

Early life
Ellen Naomi Cohen was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 19, 1941, the daughter of Bess (née Levine; 1915–1994) and Philip Cohen (died 1962). All four of her grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants. Her family was subject to significant financial stresses and uncertainties during her childhood years. Her father, involved in several business ventures throughout his life, ultimately succeeded through the development of a lunch wagon business in Baltimore that provided meals to construction workers. Her mother was a trained nurse. Elliot had a brother, Joseph, and a younger sister, Leah, who also became a singer and recording artist. Elliot's early life was spent with her family in Alexandria, Virginia, before the family moved to Baltimore when Elliot was 15, and where they had briefly lived at the time of Elliot's birth.

Elliot adopted the name "Cass" in high school, possibly borrowing it from actress Peggy Cass, according to Denny Doherty. She assumed the surname "Elliot" some time later, in memory of a friend who had died. While in Alexandria, she attended George Washington High School. When Elliot's family returned to Baltimore, she attended Forest Park High School. While attending Forest Park High School, Elliot became interested in acting. She won a small part in the play The Boy Friend, a summer stock production at the Hilltop Theatre in Owings Mills, Maryland. She left high school shortly before graduation and moved to New York City to further her acting career (as recounted in the lyrics to "Creeque Alley").

Early career

After leaving high school to pursue an entertainment career in New York, Elliot toured in the musical The Music Man in 1962, but lost the part of Miss Marmelstein in I Can Get It for You Wholesale to Barbra Streisand. Elliot would sometimes sing while working as a cloakroom attendant at The Showplace in Greenwich Village, but she did not pursue a singing career until she moved to the Washington, DC, area to attend American University (not Swarthmore College, as mentioned in the biographical song "Creeque Alley").

America's folk music scene was on the rise when Elliot met banjoist and singer Tim Rose and singer John Brown, and the three began performing as The Triumvirate. In 1963, James Hendricks replaced Brown, and the trio was renamed the Big 3. Elliot's first recording with the Big 3 was "Winken, Blinken, and Nod", released by FM Records in 1963. In 1964, the group appeared on an "open mic" night at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village, billed as Cass Elliot and the Big 3, followed onstage by folk singer Jim Fosso and bluegrass banjoist Eric Weissberg.

Tim Rose left the Big 3 in 1964, and Elliot and Hendricks teamed with Canadians Zal Yanovsky and Denny Doherty to form the Mugwumps. This group lasted eight months, after which Cass performed as a solo act for a while. In the meantime, Yanovsky and John Sebastian co-founded the Lovin' Spoonful, while Doherty joined the New Journeymen, a group that also included John Phillips and his wife Michelle. In 1965, Doherty persuaded Phillips that Elliot should join the group, which she did while the group members and she were vacationing in the Virgin Islands.

A popular legend about Elliot is that her vocal range was improved by three notes after she was hit on the head by some copper tubing while walking through a construction site behind the bar where the New Journeymen were playing in the Virgin Islands. Elliot confirmed the story in a 1968 interview with Rolling Stone, saying:

Friends later said, though,  that the pipe story was a less embarrassing explanation for why John Phillips had kept her out of the group for so long, because he considered her too fat.

The Mamas and the Papas
With two female members, the New Journeymen needed a new name. According to Doherty, Elliot had the inspiration for the band's new name; as written on his website:

Doherty also said that the occasion marked the beginning of his affair with Michelle Phillips. Elliot was in love with Doherty and was displeased when he told her of the affair. Doherty has said that Elliot once proposed to him, but that he was so stoned at the time that he could not even respond.

Elliot was known for her sense of humor and optimism, and was considered by many to be the most charismatic member of the group. Her powerful, distinctive voice was a major factor in their string of hits including: "California Dreamin'", "Monday, Monday", and "Words of Love". She also performed the solo "Dream a Little Dream of Me" (credited on the label of the single as 'Featuring Mama Cass with the Mamas and the Papas'), which the group recorded in 1968 after learning about the death of Fabian Andre, one of the men who co-wrote it, whom Michelle Phillips had met years earlier. Elliot's version is noteworthy for its contemplative pace, whereas many earlier recordings of "Dream a Little Dream of Me" (including one by Nat King Cole and another by Ozzie Nelson) had been up-tempo versions—the song having been written in 1931 as a dance tune.

The Mamas and the Papas continued to record to meet the terms of their record contract until 1971.

Solo career

After the breakup of the Mamas and the Papas, Elliot embarked on a solo singing career. Her most successful recording during this period was 1968's "Dream a Little Dream of Me" from her solo album of the same name, released by Dunhill Records, though it had originally been released earlier that year on the album The Papas & the Mamas Presented by the Mamas and the Papas.

London hotel theft and court case
In 1967, while staying in London, Elliot was prosecuted for stealing bed linen from an apartment where she had been staying on an earlier visit. She denied responsibility, and the case was brought before the West London magistrates' court, where the charges against her were dismissed in the absence of any evidence. The Mamas and the Papas were forced to cancel the upcoming British concerts as a result of the incident, and the band broke up the next year. On a return visit to London, Elliot admitted to the audience at the London Palladium that she had taken two sheets, saying "I liked 'em so I took 'em". She said she had kept quiet because of the way she had been treated in police custody.

Las Vegas show
In October 1968, Elliot made her live solo debut headlining in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace, scheduled for a three-week engagement at $40,000 per week with two shows per night. According to Elliot, she went on a six-month crash diet before the show, losing 100 of her 300 pounds. However, she attributed a stomach ulcer and throat problems to her severe regimen, which she treated by drinking milk and cream—regaining 50 pounds in the process.

She was confined to her bed for three weeks before the first performance while the musical director, band, and production supervisor attempted to put together a show in her absence. She was scheduled to rehearse for a full three days before the show opened, but she managed to get through only part of one run-through with the band before saying that she was losing her voice. She skipped the remainder of rehearsals and drank tea and lemon, hoping to recover and pull herself together for opening night.

An audience of 950 people filled the Circus Maximus theater at Caesar's Palace on the evening of Wednesday October 16, including Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, Liza Minnelli, and Mia Farrow, who had sent flowers to Elliot's dressing room, but backstage she had developed a raging fever. Friends urged her manager to cancel the show, but she felt that it was too important and insisted on performing. Sick and having barely rehearsed, she began to fall apart during the course of her first performance; her voice was weak and barely audible, and the large crowd was unsympathetic, despite the celebrity well-wishers. At the end of the show, Elliot returned to the stage to apologize to the audience; "This is the first night, and it will get better," she said. She then sang "Dream a Little Dream of Me" and left the stage as the audience applauded half-heartedly. She returned later that night to perform the second show, but her voice was worse, and many of the audience noisily walked out.

Reviews were harsh. Esquire magazine called the show "Sink Along with Cass" and "a disaster" that was "heroic in proportion, epic in scope". The Los Angeles Free Press called it "an embarrassing drag", while Newsweek compared it to the Titanic disaster: "Like some great ocean liner embarking on an ill-fated maiden voyage, Mama Cass slid down the waves and sank to the bottom." The show closed after only one night, and Elliot flew back to Los Angeles for what was described as "a tonsillectomy".

Heroin use
Within hours of the end of Elliot's Las Vegas concert, rumors began to spread that she had been taking drugs during the weeks leading up to it. Eddi Fiegel wrote in the biography Dream a Little Dream of Me that Elliot later admitted to a boyfriend that she had shot heroin immediately before going on stage. Embarrassed by the debacle, Elliot plunged into a deep depression.

David Crosby published a memoir in 1988 saying Elliot and he used opiates, cocaine, and heroin together, preferring to use heroin in London because of its availability there.

Later work

Elliot appeared in two television variety specials: The Mama Cass Television Program (ABC, 1969) and Don't Call Me Mama Anymore (CBS, 1973). She was a regular guest on TV talk shows and variety shows in the early 1970s, including The Mike Douglas Show, The Andy Williams Show, Hollywood Squares, The Johnny Cash Show, The Ray Stevens Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and The Carol Burnett Show, and was a guest panelist for a week on the game show Match Game '73. She guest-hosted for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show and appeared as a guest on the show 13 other times. She also appeared on and co-hosted The Music Scene on ABC and was featured on the first The Midnight Special on NBC.

She performed the title song "The Good Times Are Comin'" during the opening sequence of the 1970 film Monte Walsh, starring Lee Marvin and Jack Palance. In 1972, she made three appearances on the variety series The Julie Andrews Hour. Her final appearance on the show was the Christmas installment that aired on Wednesday, December 20, 1972. In December 1978, four years after Elliot's death, the episode was rebroadcast on syndicated stations as a Christmas special called Merry Christmas With Love, Julie. However, all of Elliot's solos were deleted from the syndicated prints. In 2009, a complete videotape of The Julie Andrews Hour Christmas Show was donated to The Paley Center For Media in New York, with all of Elliot's numbers intact.

In 1973, Elliot performed in Saga of Sonora, a TV music-comedy-Western special with Jill St. John, Vince Edwards, Zero Mostel, and Lesley Ann Warren.

She also sang the jingle "Hurry on down to Hardee's, where the burgers are charco-broiled" for Hardee's advertisements.

Throughout the early 1970s, Elliot continued her acting career, as well. She had a featured role in the movie Pufnstuf (1970) and made guest appearances on TV's The New Scooby-Doo Movies, Young Dr. Kildare, Love, American Style, and The Red Skelton Show, among others.

In 1973, Elliot hired as her manager Allan Carr, who was also managing the careers of Tony Curtis, Ann-Margret, and Peter Sellers. Carr felt Elliot needed to leave pop and rock music altogether and head into the cabaret circuit, so a show was put together comprising old standards along with a few new songs written for her by friends. The act included Elliot and two male singers who served as backup singers and sidekicks during the musical numbers. The title of the show was Don't Call Me Mama Anymore, named after one of the songs written by Elliot's friend Earle Brown. The song was born out of Elliot's frustration with being identified as "Mama Cass".

The show debuted in Pittsburgh on February 9, 1973. Elliot felt ready to tackle Las Vegas once again and premiered at the Flamingo. This time, she received rave reviews. The Las Vegas Sun wrote, "Cass Elliot, making a strong point that she is no longer Mama Cass, has a good act serving notice that she is here to stay. The audience was with her all the way ... no empty seats anywhere." She then took her act to higher-echelon casinos and swankier nightclubs in cities throughout the country.

Personal life
Elliot was married twice, the first time in 1963 to James Hendricks, her group mate in the Big 3 and the Mugwumps. It was a platonic arrangement to assist him in avoiding being drafted during the Vietnam War; the marriage was never consummated and was annulled in 1968. In 1971, Elliot married journalist Donald von Wiedenman, heir to a Bavarian barony. Their marriage ended in divorce after a few months.

Elliot gave birth to a daughter, Owen Vanessa Elliot, on April 26, 1967. Owen also grew up to become a singer and toured with Beach Boys member Al Jardine. Elliot never publicly identified the father, but many years later, Michelle Phillips helped Owen locate her biological father, Chuck Day. His paternity was not publicly revealed until his 2008 death. After Elliot's death, her younger sister, Leah Kunkel (then married to Los Angeles-based session drummer Russ Kunkel), gained custody of Owen, then seven years old, and raised her along with her own son, Nathaniel.

Death

On April 22, 1974, Elliot collapsed in the television studio of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson immediately before her scheduled appearance on the show. She was treated at a hospital and released, then dismissed the incident as simple exhaustion in interviews such as her May 7 appearance on The Tonight Show and the American television talk show The Mike Douglas Show. Her appearance on that episode of The Mike Douglas Show turned out to be her last for television.

In July 1974, Elliot performed a fortnight of concerts as a solo performer at the London Palladium. Many claimed that all of these shows were sold out, but she often was playing to a less-than-full house after the earlier dates.

After her Friday, July 26 appearance at the Palladium, Elliot went on a 48-hour celebration. She first attended a birthday party for Mick Jagger at his home at Tite Street in Chelsea. Debbie Reynolds claimed in her 2013 book Unsinkable: A Memoir that her children, Carrie Fisher and Todd Fisher, saw Elliot at the birthday party. Reynolds noted that Elliot was alone when she left. After the party, Elliot went to a "breakfast-lunch" in her honor presented by Georgia Brown. From there, she attended a cocktail party hosted by American journalist Jack Martin. Cass left at 8:00 pm, stating she was tired and needed to get some sleep.

Elliot retired to an apartment in Mayfair at Curzon Place at which singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson allowed her to stay. There, she made an international call to Michelle Phillips. Phillips said many years later that Elliot sounded elated that she had received standing ovations each night. Phillips recalls, "She had had a little champagne, and was crying. She felt she had finally made the transition from Mama Cass."

That night, Elliot, age 32, died in her sleep at the London flat where she was staying. According to forensic pathologist Keith Simpson, who conducted her autopsy, her death was due to heart failure. "There was left-sided heart failure," he wrote, "she had a heart attack which developed rapidly." A drug screen that was part of the forensic autopsy revealed there were no drugs in her system. Elliot died in Flat 12, 9 Curzon Place (later Curzon Square), Shepherd Market, Mayfair, London. Four years later, The Who's drummer Keith Moon died in the same room, also aged 32 years.

Elliot's body was cremated at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. Her ashes were later buried in Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

An oft-repeated urban legend is that Elliot choked to death on a ham sandwich. The story spread soon after the discovery of her body and was based on speculation in the initial media coverage. A 2014 article in Haaretz identified the person who started the false rumor as follows: "Unfortunately, the first doctor [in London] who examined her speculated to the press about the cause of death, and that's the version that stuck." An autopsy had not been performed when the physician was quoted, and the Metropolitan Police told reporters that a partially eaten sandwich found in her room might have been relevant to the cause of death. When Keith Simpson performed the autopsy, he determined that Elliot had died of heart failure, and that no food was present in her windpipe.

Tributes and other popular culture references

Civic events
The City of Baltimore dedicated August 15, 1973, as "Cass Elliot Day" in her honor for her homecoming.

Films and plays
The British play and film Beautiful Thing feature her recordings, and one character reflects on her memories of Elliot. Elliot was the subject of a 2004 stage production in Dublin, The Songs of Mama Cass, with Kristin Kapelli performing main vocals.

She is mentioned in the 1997 film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, in the scene where Austin is crossing off names on a list of people he knew that have all died, including Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

She is mentioned as the host of a party in the Elton John biopic, Rocketman. The party occurs after Elton's first performance at the Troubador in Los Angeles. She is portrayed by Rachel Redleaf in the 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Music
The song "Mama, I Remember You Now" by Swedish artist Marit Bergman is a tribute to Elliot.

The Frank Zappa song "We're Turning Again" references the urban legend of Cass choking to death. "We can visit Big Mama, we can whap her on the back, while she eats her sandwich!"

TISM song "(He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River" cites her conjectured cause of death among a catalogue of other famous "bad ends" from the history of popular music: "Mama Cass' sandwich, I ate the same!".

The "Weird Al" Yankovic song "Close but No Cigar" also references the urban legend, with the narrator being "all choked up like Mama Cass".

The Foetus song "The Throne of Agony" makes further reference to the urban legend, with JG Thirwell claiming that he was "the one who gave the sandwich to Mama Cass".

The Crosby, Stills & Nash Daylight Again video released in 1982 was dedicated to Cass Elliot, as was the Crosby, Stills & Nash Greatest Hits album released in 2005.

Television
Elliot's recording of "Make Your Own Kind of Music" is featured prominently in several episodes of seasons two and three of Lost as well as season eight, episodes two and nine of Dexter (the later one also uses the title as the episode's title). It was also featured in ABC's The Middle when Sue Heck graduates from high school and in Netflix's Sex Education when Aimee smashes up an abandoned car. Her recording of "It's Getting Better" is featured in a season-four episode of Lost.

She provided the voice for her appearance on the 1973 episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, "The Haunted Candy Factory". She also appeared on Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated in the episodes "The Secret Serum", "Pawn of Shadows", and "Dance of the Undead" as a Crystal Cove citizen.

In season three, episode eight of The Good Place, Elliot's song "Don't Let the Good Life Pass You By” is played in the beginning of the episode.

Discography

Albums

The Big 3
 1963: The Big 3
 1964: Live at the Recording Studio

The Mugwumps
 1965: The Mugwumps

The Mamas and the Papas
 1966: If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears
 1966: The Mamas & the Papas
 1967: The Mamas and the Papas Deliver
 1968: The Papas & The Mamas
 1970: Monterey Pop Festival (Live) (recorded in 1967)
 1971: People Like Us

Solo

"-" indicates the album did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Soundtracks
 1970: Pufnstuf (soundtrack with Mama Cass)
 1971: "The Costume Ball" from Doctor's Wives 
 1996: Beautiful Thing (soundtrack with Mama Cass and the Mamas and the Papas)

Singles

See also

References

External links

 The Official Cass Elliot Website
 

1941 births
1974 deaths
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American women singers
Actresses from Baltimore
American women pop singers
American women rock singers
American film actresses
American folk rock musicians
American musical theatre actresses
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American television actresses
American University alumni
Burials at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery
Dunhill Records artists
Jewish American musicians
Jewish folk singers
Musicians from Alexandria, Virginia
Musicians from Baltimore
Singers from Maryland
Sunshine pop
The Mamas and the Papas members
20th-century American singers
People from Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles
The Mamas & the Papas were an American folk rock vocal group formed in Los Angeles, California, which recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968. The group was a defining force in the music scene of the counterculture of the 1960s. The group was composed of Americans John Phillips, Cass Elliot, and Michelle Phillips and Canadian Denny Doherty. Their sound was based on vocal harmonies arranged by John Phillips, the songwriter, musician, and leader of the group, who adapted folk to the new beat style of the early 1960s.

The Mamas & the Papas released five studio albums and 17 singles over four years, six of which made the Billboard top 10, and have sold close to 40 million records worldwide. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 for its contributions to the music industry. The band reunited briefly to record the album People Like Us in 1971 but had ceased touring and performing by that time. Some of their most popular singles include "California Dreamin', "Monday, Monday", and "Dedicated to the One I Love".

Background and formation
The Mamas & the Papas were formed by husband and wife John Phillips (formerly of the New Journeymen) and Michelle Phillips, and Denny Doherty (formerly of the Mugwumps). Both of these earlier acts were folk groups active in 1964 and 1965. The last member to join was Cass Elliot, Doherty's bandmate in the Mugwumps, who had to overcome John Phillips's concerns that her voice was too low for his arrangements, that her obesity would be an obstacle to the band's success, and that her temperament was incompatible with his (Elliot struggled with obesity all her life and felt deeply insecure about her physical appearance). The group considered calling itself the Magic Cyrcle before switching to the Mamas & the Papas, inspired by the Hells Angels, whose female associates were called "mamas."

The quartet spent the period from early spring to midsummer 1965 in the Virgin Islands "to rehearse and just put everything together," as John Phillips later recalled. Phillips acknowledged that he was reluctant to abandon folk music. Others, including Doherty and guitarist Eric Hord, have said he hung on to it "like death." Roger McGuinn's view is that "[i]t was hard for John to break out of folk music because I think he was really good at it, conservative, and successful, too." Phillips also acknowledged that it was Doherty and Elliot who awakened him to the potential of contemporary pop, as epitomized by the Beatles. Previously, the New Journeymen had played acoustic folk with banjo, and the Mugwumps played something closer to folk rock, with bass and drums. Their rehearsals in the Virgin Islands were "the first time that we tried playing electric."

The band then traveled from New York to Los Angeles for an audition with Lou Adler, co-owner of Dunhill Records. The audition was arranged by Barry McGuire, who had befriended Cass Elliot and John Phillips independently during the previous two years and who had recently signed with Dunhill. The audition led to "a deal in which they would record two albums a year for the next five years," with a royalty of 5 percent on 90 percent of retail sales. Dunhill Records also tied the band to management and publishing deals, commonly known as a "triple hat" relationship. Cass Elliot's membership was not formalized until the paperwork was signed, with Adler, Michelle Phillips, and Doherty overruling John Phillips.

Career

1965: Beginning and debut
The Mamas & the Papas made their first recording singing background vocals on McGuire's album This Precious Time, although they had already released a single of their own by the time the album appeared in December 1965. The single "Go Where You Wanna Go", which was given a limited release in November, failed to chart. The follow-up, "California Dreamin, has the same B-side, suggesting that "Go Where You Wanna Go" had been withdrawn. "California Dreamin was released in December, touted by a full-page advertisement in Billboard on December 18. It peaked at No. 4 in the United States and No. 23 in the United Kingdom. "Go Where You Wanna Go" was covered by the 5th Dimension on its album Up, Up and Away and became a Top 20 pop hit.

The quartet's debut album, If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears, followed in February 1966 and became its only No. 1 on the  Billboard 200. The third and final single from the album, "Monday, Monday", was released in March 1966. It became the band's only No. 1 hit in the US, reached No. 3 in the UK, and was the first No. 1 on Spain's Los 40 Principales. "Monday, Monday" won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 1967. It was also nominated for Best Performance by a Vocal Group, Best Contemporary Song and Record of the Year.

1966: The Mamas & the Papas
The band's second album, The Mamas & the Papas, is sometimes referred to as Cass, John, Michelle, Dennie, whose names appear above the band's name on the cover, including the unexplained misspelling of Doherty's first name. The recording was interrupted when Michelle Phillips became indiscreet about her affair with Gene Clark of the Byrds. A liaison between Michelle and Denny Doherty had already been forgiven by her husband, John Phillips; Doherty and John Phillips co-wrote "I Saw Her Again" about the affair. They later disagreed about how much Doherty contributed to the song. Following Michelle's affair with Clark, John Phillips was determined to fire her. After consulting their attorney and record label, John, Elliot, and Doherty served Michelle with a letter expelling her from the group on June 28, 1966.

Jill Gibson was hired to replace Michelle. Gibson was a visual artist and singer-songwriter who had recorded with Jan and Dean. After being introduced to the band by its producer, Lou Adler, Gibson soon took part in concerts at Forest Hills, New York;
Denver, Colorado; and Phoenix, Arizona, television appearances including Hollywood Palace on ABC, and recording sessions. While Gibson was a quick study and well regarded, the three original members concluded she lacked her predecessor's "stage charisma and grittier edge," and Michelle Phillips was reinstated on August 23, 1966. Jill Gibson left the band and was paid a lump sum from the group's funds."

The Mamas & the Papas peaked at No. 4 in the US and No. 24 in the UK, continuing the band's success. "I Saw Her Again" was released as a single in June 1966 and reached No. 5 in the US and No. 11 in the UK. There is a false start to the final chorus of the song at 2'42". While mixing the record, Bones Howe inadvertently punched in the coda vocals too early. He then rewound the tape and inserted the vocals in their proper position. On playback, the mistaken early entry could still be heard, making it sound as though Doherty repeated the first three words, singing "I saw her ... I saw her again last night". Lou Adler liked the effect, and told Howe to leave it in the final mix. "That has to be a mistake: nobody's that clever," Paul McCartney told the group. The device was imitated by John Sebastian in the Lovin' Spoonful song, "Darlin' Be Home Soon" (1966), and by Kenny Loggins in the song "I'm Alright" (1980). "Words of Love" was the second single from the album, released in November 1966 as a double A-side with "Dancing in the Street". The record reached No. 5 in the US. "Dancing in the Street", which had been a hit two years earlier for Martha and the Vandellas, struggled to No. 73. In the UK it was backed with "I Can't Wait" and peaked at No. 47.

With Michelle Phillips reinstated, the group embarked on a small tour on the East coast to promote the record in the fall of 1966. At a September 1966 concert at Fordham University in New York City, the band was noted by Gus Duffy and Jim Mason of their co-headlining band, Webster's New Word, as being clearly "high, drunk, or tripping. When they got on stage, it was clear that these people shouldn't be on stage ... They tumbled onto the stage, shambled around, and just got nowhere".

1967: The Mamas & the Papas Deliver

After completing their East coast tour, the group started work immediately on their third album, The Mamas & The Papas Deliver, which was recorded in the autumn of 1966. The first single from the album, "Look Through My Window", was released in September 1966 before the last single from The Mamas & the Papas. It reached No. 24 in the US. The second single, "Dedicated to the One I Love", released February 1967, did better, peaking at No. 2 in both the US and the UK. The success of "Dedicated to the One I Love" helped the album, which was also released in February 1967, reach No. 2. The third single, "Creeque Alley", released April 1967, chronicled the band's early history and reached No. 5 in the US.

By June 1967, the strain on the group was apparent when they performed indifferently at the Monterey International Pop Festival, as can be heard on Historic Performances Recorded at the Monterey International Pop Festival (1970). The band was under-rehearsed, partly because John and Michelle Phillips and Lou Adler were preoccupied with organizing the festival, partly because Doherty arrived at the last minute from another sojourn in the Virgin Islands, and partly because he was drinking heavily in the aftermath of his affair with Michelle Phillips. The Mamas & the Papas rallied for their performance before 18,000 people at the Hollywood Bowl in August with Jimi Hendrix as the opener, which John and Michelle Phillips remembered as the apex of the band's career, saying, "There would never be anything quite like it again".

The Mamas & the Papas Deliver was followed in October 1967 by the non-album single "Glad to Be Unhappy", which reached No. 26 in the US. "Dancing Bear" from the group's second album was released as a single in November. It peaked at No. 51 in the US. Neither "Glad to Be Unhappy" nor "Dancing Bear" charted in the UK.

1968: The Papas & the Mamas
The Mamas & the Papas cut their first three albums at United Western Recorders in Hollywood, while the group's subsequent releases were recorded at the eight-track studio that John and Michelle Phillips had built at their home in Bel Air, at a time when four-track recording was still the norm. John Phillips said, "I got the idea to transform the attic into my own recording studio, so I could stay high all the time and never have to worry about studio time. I began assembling the state-of-the-art equipment and ran the cost up to about a hundred grand".

While having his own studio gave John Phillips the autonomy he craved, it also removed the external discipline that may have been beneficial to a man who described himself as an "obsessive perfectionist". Doherty, Elliot and Adler found the arrangement uncongenial. Elliot complained to Rolling Stone on October 26, 1968, "We spent one whole month on one song; just the vocals for 'The Love of Ivy' took one whole month. I did my [debut solo] album in three weeks, a total of ten days in the studio. Live with the band, not prerecorded tracks sitting there with earphones." The recording sessions for the fourth album stalled, and in September 1967 John Phillips called a press conference to announce that the Mamas & the Papas were taking a break, which the band confirmed on The Ed Sullivan Show that aired September 24.

The Mamas & the Papas planned to give concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London and the Olympia in Paris before taking time out on Majorca to "get the muse going again". When the group docked at Southampton on October 5, Elliot was arrested for stealing two blankets and a hotel key worth 10 guineas ($28) when in England the previous February. Elliot was transferred to London, where she spent a night in custody after being strip-searched, before the case was dismissed in the West London Magistrates' Court the next day. The hotel was less interested in the blankets than in an unpaid bill. Elliot had entrusted the money to her companion, Harris Pickens "Pic" Dawson III, who neglected to settle the account. The police were less interested in the blankets or the bill than in Dawson, who was suspected of international drug trafficking and was the sole subject of their questioning.

Later, at a party hosted by the band to celebrate Elliot's acquittal, John Phillips interrupted Elliot as she was telling The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger about her arrest and trial and said, "Mick, she's got it all wrong, that's not how it was at all." Elliot screamed at Phillips and stormed out of the room. Elliot was ready to quit, the Royal Albert Hall and Olympia dates were cancelled, and the four went their separate ways. John and Michelle Phillips went to Morocco, Doherty returned to the United States, and Elliot either went to the United States (according to John Phillips) or to a rendezvous in Paris with Pic Dawson (according to Michelle Phillips). In an interview with Melody Maker, Elliot unilaterally announced that the Mamas & the Papas had disbanded, saying "We thought this trip would give the group some stimulation, but this has not been so."

John Phillips and Elliot reconciled to complete The Papas & The Mamas, which was released in May 1968. The album was the band's first album not to go gold or reach the top 10 in America. "Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)" was released as a single in August 1967 and peaked at No. 20 in the US. After the second single, "Safe in My Garden" (May 1968), made it only to No. 53, Dunhill Records released Elliot's solo from the album, a remake of "Dream a Little Dream of Me", as a single credited to "Mama Cass with the Mamas & the Papas" in June 1968 against John Phillips' wishes. The song reached No. 12 in the US and No. 11 in the UK, making "Dream a Little Dream of Me" the only single by the Mamas & Papas to chart higher in the UK than in the US. The fourth and final single from The Papas & The Mamas, "For the Love of Ivy" (July 1968), peaked at No. 81 in the US. For the second time, Dunhill Records returned to the band's earlier work for a single, releasing "Do You Wanna Dance" from the debut album in October 1968. The song reached No. 76 in the US.

1968–1969: Break-up and People Like Us
The success of "Dream a Little Dream of Me" confirmed Elliot's desire to embark on a solo career, and by the end of 1968 it appeared that the group had split. John Phillips recalled, "Times had changed. The Beatles showed the way. Music itself was heading toward a technological and compositional complexity that would leave many of us behind. It was tough to keep up." The group met its demise officially in early 1969, as John Phillips recalled, saying "Dunhill released us from our contracts and we were history, though we still owed the label another album." Elliot, billed as Mama Cass, had released her solo debut Dream a Little Dream in 1968, Phillips released John Phillips (John, the Wolf King of L.A.) in 1970, and Denny Doherty followed with Watcha Gonna Do? in 1971.

Dunhill Records maintained momentum by releasing The Best of the Mamas & the Papas: Farewell to the First Golden Era in 1967, Golden Era Vol. 2 in 1968, 16 of Their Greatest Hits in 1969 and the Monterey live album in 1970. The record company was determined to get the band's contractually obligated last album, for which it had given the band an extension until September 1971. The label warned the band that each member would be sued for $250,000 if the band did not deliver the album. A lawsuit and countersuit between the band and label were settled out of court, and it was determined that the band would record under John Phillips's label, Warlock Records, distributed by Dunhill Records. John Phillips wrote a collection of songs, which was arranged, rehearsed, and recorded throughout the year, depending on the availability of the other group members. Band members were rarely together at one time and most tracks were dubbed, one vocal at a time.

The Mamas & the Papas' last album of new material, People Like Us, was released in November 1971. The only single, "Step Out", reached No. 81 in the US. The album peaked at No. 84 on the Billboard 200, making it the only album by the Mamas & Papas not to reach the top 20 in the US. Neither single nor album charted in the UK. Contractual obligations fulfilled, the band's split was final.

Aftermath

Cass Elliot

Cass Elliot had a successful solo career, touring the US and Europe. She appeared frequently on television, including in two specials, The Mama Cass Television Program on ABC in January 1969 and Don't Call Me Mama Anymore on CBS in September 1973. She recorded hits such as "Make Your Own Kind of Music" and "It's Getting Better" but never surpassed her two Dunhill Records albums, Dream a Little Dream (1968) and Bubblegum, Lemonade, and ... Something for Mama (1969). Elliot signed with RCA Records, but none of the three albums she recorded for the label, Cass Elliot (1972), The Road Is No Place for a Lady (1972), and Don't Call Me Mama Anymore (1973), produced a charting single.

Elliot died of heart failure in London on July 29, 1974, after completing a two-week engagement at the Palladium. The shows were mostly sold out and prompted standing ovations. Her former bandmates and Lou Adler attended her funeral in Los Angeles. Elliot was survived by her only child, Owen Vanessa Elliot, who was born in 1967.

John Phillips

John Phillips's country-influenced solo album, John Phillips (John, the Wolf King of L.A.), enjoyed critical favor but was not a commercial success, despite featuring the single "Mississippi", which reached No. 32 in the US. Rolling Stone gave the album four stars when it was reissued in 2006, calling it "a genuine lost treasure". Denny Doherty said that if the Mamas & the Papas had recorded the album, it might have been their best. John Phillips wrote songs for the soundtrack to Brewster McCloud (Robert Altman, 1970) and original music for the soundtracks to Myra Breckinridge (Michael Sarne, 1970) and The Man Who Fell to Earth (Nicolas Roeg, 1976). He also wrote the ill-fated stage musical Man on the Moon (1975). John Phillips wrote most of the tracks on the album Romance Is on the Rise (1974) by his then-wife Geneviève Waïte, which he also produced, and he co-wrote "Kokomo" (1988), which was a No. 1 hit for the Beach Boys.

Phillips was lost in a heroin addiction through much of the 1970s, a period that included his arrest and conviction in 1980 on a charge of conspiring to distribute narcotics for which he spent a month in jail in 1981. In later years, he performed with the New Mamas and the Papas and appeared in revival shows and television specials. He told his side of the Mamas & Papas story in the memoir Papa John (1986), and in the PBS television documentary, Straight Shooter: The True Story of John Phillips and the Mamas and the Papas (1988). Phillips died of heart failure in Los Angeles on March 18, 2001.

Two albums were released immediately after his death, Pay Pack & Follow (April 2001), which included material recorded in London and New York with members of the Rolling Stones in 1976 and 1977, and Phillips 66 (August 2001), an album of new material and reworkings that took its title from the age Phillips would have been when the album was originally slated for its release. A later archival series on Varèse Sarabande included a reissue of John Phillips (John, the Wolf King of L.A.) with bonus tracks (2006), sessions he recorded for Columbia with the Crusaders in 1972 and 1973 released as Jack of Diamonds (2007), his preferred mix of the Rolling Stones sessions released with other material as Pussycat (2008), and his demos for Man on the Moon released as Andy Warhol Presents Man on the Moon: The John Phillips Space Musical (2009).

Denny Doherty

Denny Doherty's solo career faltered after the appearance of Whatcha Gonna Do? in 1971. The follow-up, Waiting for a Song (1974), was not released in the US, although a 2001 reissue by Varèse Sarabande gained wider distribution and is now available as a digital download. The album features Michelle Phillips and Cass Elliot as background vocalists in what was to be Elliot's last recorded performance. A single from the album, "You'll Never Know", made the adult contemporary charts. Doherty turned to the stage, making a disastrous start in John Phillips's Man on the Moon (1975). In 1977, he returned to his birthplace, Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he played Shakespeare at the Neptune Theatre under the tutelage of John Neville. This led to television work, including a variety program,  Denny's Sho*, which ran for one season in 1978. Doherty hosted and voiced parts in the children's program, Theodore Tugboat, and acted in various series, including 22 episodes of the drama Pit Pony. Doherty also performed with the New Mamas and the Papas (see below). An alcoholic through the 1960s and 1970s, Doherty recovered in the early 1980s and stayed sober for the remainder of his life.In 1996, Doherty was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

Doherty answered John Phillips's PBS documentary with the autobiographical stage musical Dream a Little Dream (the Nearly True Story of the Mamas & the Papas) which he wrote with Paul Ledoux and performed in Halifax in 1997 and the off-Broadway Village Theater in New York in 2003. The original cast recording, featuring Doherty and supporting band, was released by Lewlacow in 1999. Doherty died on January 19, 2007, at his home in Mississauga, Ontario, from kidney failure following surgery for an abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Michelle Phillips 

While Michelle Phillips's only solo album, Victim of Romance (1977), made little impact, she went on to build a successful career as an actress. Her film credits include The Last Movie (1971), Dillinger (1973), Valentino (1977), Bloodline (1979), The Man with Bogart's Face (1980), American Anthem (1986), Let It Ride (1989) and Joshua Tree (1993). Her television credits include Star Trek: The Next Generation, Hotel, Knots Landing, Beverly Hills, 90210.

Michelle Phillips published a memoir, California Dreamin', in 1986, the same year John Phillips published his. Reading the two books together was, according to one reviewer, "like reading the transcripts in a divorce trial." As the co-writer and owner of the copyright to "California Dreamin'", Michelle Phillips was an important contributor to the 2005 PBS television documentary California Dreamin': The Songs of the Mamas & the Papas.

The New Mamas & the Papas
The New Mamas & the Papas was a by-product of John Phillips's desire to "round out the picture of reform" as he awaited sentencing on narcotics charges in 1980. He invited his children Jeffrey and Mackenzie, and Denny Doherty, to join him at the Fair Oaks Hospital in Summit, New Jersey, where he was undergoing rehabilitation. The idea of reviving the Mamas & the Papas was born at this time, with John Phillips and Doherty in their original roles, Mackenzie Phillips taking Michelle Phillips's part and Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane of Spanky and Our Gang taking the part of Cass Elliot. Little progress was made until after Phillips served his time in jail. The quartet began rehearsing in earnest and recording demos in the summer of 1981. The band's first performance was in March 1982, when it was praised for its verve and expertise, the impressive precision of the harmonies, and the "feeling ... of genuine celebration" on stage.

The group toured the United States, including residencies in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, but lost $150,000 in its first 18 months. John Phillips called a halt in August 1983 and the New Mamas & the Papas did not perform again until February 1985. The band resumed touring, with concerts in Europe, East Asia, South America, Canada and the United States. At the height of the New Mamas & the Papas, the group was playing up to 280 nights a year. John Phillips stayed off heroin, but he and his daughter remained addicted to alcohol, cocaine and pills. The addictions affected the group's performance, as it was occasionally booed off stage.

Doherty quit the band in 1987 and was replaced by Scott McKenzie (1939–2012). In 1991 Mackenzie Phillips was formally replaced by Laurie Beebe Lewis, a former vocalist with the Buckinghams. Lewis, who sang with the band from October 1986 through April 1987, replaced MacKenzie Phillips intermittently through 1987–1991 while she was pregnant, in drug rehab and dealing with personal issues. John Phillips dropped out of the band after a liver transplant in 1992 and Doherty returned. Lewis and McFarlane left in 1993 and were replaced by Lisa Brescia and Deb Lyons. The band continued to perform with varying line-ups, including Barry McGuire and the recovering John Phillips, until 1998, by which time "the jingle singers who sang those fabulous Cass, Michelle, John, and Denny parts were an aural cartoon". In 1998 the lineup was John Phillips, Scott McKenzie, Chrissy Faith, David Baker and Janelle Sadler. After John Phillips and McKenzie retired permanently from touring, Mark Williamson, was brought in.

John Phillips wanted the New Mamas & the Papas to make an album, but could not commit to it. Varèse Sarabande released the 1981 demos with other material as Many Mamas, Many Papas in 2010. After 2010, the band is represented on record by live albums including The Mamas & the Papas Reunion Live (1987) featuring the Phillips-Doherty-Phillips-McFarlane line-up and released by Teichiku in Japan, and Dreamin' Live (2005) on Legacy (not the Columbia-Sony imprint) which features John and Mackenzie Phillips, Spanky McFarlane and (probably) Scott McKenzie.

Members of the New Mamas & the Papas
 John Phillips – vocals, guitar (1982–1992, 1995–1998) (died 2001)
 Denny Doherty – vocals (1982–1987, 1992–1995)  (died 2007)
 Mackenzie Phillips – vocals (1982–1986, 1987–1991)
 Spanky McFarlane – vocals (1982–1993)
 Laurie Beebe Lewis – vocals (1986–1987) (Interim 1988–1990) (1991–1993)
 Scott McKenzie – vocals, guitar (1987–1998)  (Died 2012)
 Lisa Brescia – vocals (1993–1998)
 Deb Lyons – vocals (1993–1998)
 Barry McGuire – vocals (1997–1998)
 Chrissy Faith – vocals (1998–2000)
 David Baker – vocals (1998–2000)
 Janelle Sadler – vocals (1998–2000)
 Mark Williamson – vocals (1998–2000)

Later recognition
In 1986, John and Michelle Phillips were featured in the music video for the Beach Boys' second recording of "California Dreamin, which appeared on the album Made in U.S.A. Denny Doherty was unavailable to participate. The Mamas & the Papas' own version of "California Dreamin was reissued in the UK and peaked at No. 9 in 1997. The song received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2001.

The Mamas & the Papas were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000, and the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2009. Cass Elliot and Michelle Phillips, as "the Mamas", were ranked No. 21 on the VH1 network's list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock.

The band received a box set when the four-CD Complete Anthology was released in the UK in September 2004 and in the US in January 2005. It contains the five studio albums, the live album from Monterey, selections from their solo work and rarities including their first sessions with Barry McGuire.

The Mamas & the Papas is the subject of several documentaries, including Straight Shooter, California Dreamin and Here I Am, Doherty's musical, Doug Hall's The Mamas & the Papas: California Dreamin (2000) and Matthew Greenwald's Go Where You Wanna Go: The Oral History of the Mamas & the Papas (2002). Cass Elliot is the subject of Jon Johnson's Make Your Own Kind of Music: A Career Retrospective of Cass Elliot (1987) and Eddi Fiegel's Dream a Little Dream of Me: The Life of Mama Cass Elliot (2005). Chris Campion authored Wolfking, a biography of John Phillips that was authorized by the John Phillips Estate.

Fox acquired the rights to make a film about the Mamas & the Papas in 2000. It was reported in 2007 that "The right script is in the process of being written." Peter Fitzpatrick's stage musical, Flowerchildren: The Mamas & Papas Story, was produced by Magnormos in Melbourne, Australia, in 2011 and revived in 2013.

Their song "California Dreamin features prominently in the 1994 Hong Kong comedy-drama movie Chungking Express.

On March 20, 2019, "Straight Shooter" by the Mamas & the Papas was featured on the soundtrack and trailer for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (stylized as Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood), a black comedy feature film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Michelle Phillips and Cass Elliot are both minor characters in the film. "Twelve Thirty", another song by the group, was used in the film but not featured on the soundtrack.

Discography
 
Studio albums
If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (1966)
The Mamas & the Papas (1966)
The Mamas & The Papas Deliver (1967)
The Papas & the Mamas (1968)
People Like Us (1971)

See also
Mama and papa

References

Sources:

External links

 Cass Elliot Website.
 Dream a Little Dream: The History of the Mamas and the Papas as Remembered by Denny Doherty.
 The John E A Phillips Appreciation Group on Facebook.
 Transcription of an Interview with Scott McKenzie and John Phillips.

 The Mamas and the Papas Vocal Group Hall of Fame Page.
 Analysis of the lyrics of "Creeque Alley".

 
Dunhill Records artists
Folk rock groups from California
Grammy Award winners
Musical groups disestablished in 1971
Musical groups established in 1965
Musical groups from Los Angeles
Psychedelic pop music groups
Vocal quartets The Mamas & the Papas were a vocal group from Los Angeles, California that was active from 1966 to 1969. Their discography consists of a total of five albums and seventeen singles, six of which made the Billboard top ten, and sold close to 40 million records worldwide.

The Mamas and the Papas' recordings were released on Dunhill Records until 1967, when the company was sold and the label became ABC-Dunhill. Around 1973, ABC-Dunhill discarded all multi-track session recordings and mono masters because they were deemed obsolete and too expensive to store. The original recordings of The Mamas and the Papas, and of labelmates such as Three Dog Night, are therefore lost, and it has been necessary to create digital versions from the stereo album masters, often second- or third-generation tapes. This is why the sound quality of Mamas and Papas' reissues does not match the best from the 1960s. In 2012, Sundazed Records located a mono master of If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears in the UK and released it on 180-gram vinyl and a limited edition of 500 compact discs.

The singles "California Dreamin' and "Monday, Monday" have both been certified as gold records by the RIAA.

Albums

Studio albums

Select compilation albums

Singles

See also
The Mugwumps discography
Denny Doherty discography
Cass Elliot discography
John Phillips discography
Michelle Phillips discography

Notes

References

External links

Discography
Discographies of American artists
Rock music group discographies