The Mamas & the Papas for the fourth album eventually stalled completely, and in September 1967 John Phillips called a press conference to announce that The Mamas & the Papas were taking a break, which they confirmed on "The Ed Sullivan Show" which aired September 24. The plan was 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", as John Phillips put it. When the group docked at Southampton on October 5, Elliot was arrested on a charge of having stolen two blankets and a hotel key
The Mamas & the Papas lost $150,000 in their first eighteen months. Phillips called a halt in August 1983 and the New Mamas and the Papas did not perform again until February 1985. They then resumed touring, with concerts in Europe, East Asia, and South America, as well as in Canada and the United States; at their height, they were playing up to 280 nights a year. John Phillips stayed off heroin, but remained addicted to alcohol, cocaine, and pills, as did his daughter. This affected the group's performance, as they were occasionally booed off stage. Doherty quit in 1987 and was replaced by Scott