Jill Gibson time when the leader of the group, John Phillips, fired his wife, Michelle Gilliam Phillips, from the band on Saturday, June 4, 1966, for having had an affair with Gene Clark of The Byrds. Instead of the group breaking up, they asked Jill Gibson to join The Mamas & the Papas as their newest member "Mama Jill". Shortly after joining the band, The Mamas & the Papas, along with Lou Adler, left for Europe for several weeks to begin working together. Arriving in London, England, Gibson, Cass Elliot, John Phillips, Denny Doherty, and Lou Adler rented the top half of
The Mamas & the Papas and 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). John Phillips died of heart failure in Los Angeles on March 18, 2001. Two albums were released immediately after his death: "Pay Pack and 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 "takes its title from the age Phillips would have been when