The Mamas & the Papas 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 over the previous two years, and who had recently signed with Dunhill himself. It 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
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