The Mama's & The Papa's
Leader and principal songwriter John Phillips had enjoyed limited
success with The Journeymen before retiring to the Virgin Isles
with his wife Michelle and two friends, Denny Doherty and Mama
Cass Elliott (who had played in a New York group called The
Mugwumps), to
write songs and formulate plans for a four-part harmony vocal
group.
Through their friendship with Barry McGuire they landed a
contract with manager/producer Lou Adler, and recorded some of the
most inspired music to come out of the sixties.
In little over a year they released six Top Five singles -
including California Dreamin', the chart-topping Monday
Monday, and Creeque Alley, which detailed their rise
to fame - and four Top Five albums. In mid-1968 the group broke
up.
After The Mamas & The Papas, Michelle began acting. She
appeared in Dennis Hopper's The Last Movie in 1971 (she
and Hopper were married for eight days and had an amicable split),
but her first big role was opposite Warren Oates in John Milius' Dillinger.
Mama Cass (born Ellen Naomi Cohen in Alexandria, Virginia) died on Monday 29 July 1974 at Flat 9, 12 Curzon
Place, London W1. The flat was owned by Harry Nilsson who rented
it out to celebrity friends. Ironically, The Who drummer Keith
Moon died in the same flat in September 1978.
Cass had just completed a successful two-week engagement at the
Palladium on Saturday 27 July and attended a cocktail party on
Sunday 28th at Mick Jagger's house. The post-mortem showed
that she died as a result of choking on a sandwich while in bed
and from inhaling her own vomit. Cass had complained to friends
recently of frequent vomiting, possibly the result of dieting.
John Phillips relied on his skills as a producer and songwriter
but would be a drug-abuser, on and off, for the rest of his
life until his heart gave out in 2001.
Denny Doherty slipped from sight after a poorly received album
and died at home in Ontario of kidney failure on 19 January
2007.
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