page_title: John Phillips (musician)
section_title: The Mamas & the Papas
hierarchical_section_title: John Phillips (musician) / Career / The Mamas & the Papas
caption_attribution_description: Photo of The Mamas and the Papas performing on The Ed Sullivan Show. From left-Michelle Phillips, Cass Elliot, Denny Doherty, and John Phillips.
context_page_description: John Edmund Andrew Phillips was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and promoter. He is best known as the leader of the vocal group The Mamas & the Papas. He was one of the chief organizers of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.
  In 2009, Phillips' daughter Mackenzie alleged that she had an incestuous relationship with her father, beginning when she was 19 years old; this account is disputed.
context_section_description: Phillips was the primary songwriter and musical arranger of The Mamas & the Papas. In a 1968 interview, Phillips described some of his arrangements as "well-arranged two-part harmony moving in opposite directions". After being signed to Dunhill, they had several Billboard Top Ten hits, including "California Dreamin'", "Monday, Monday", "I Saw Her Again", "Creeque Alley", and "12:30 (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)". John Phillips also wrote "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" in 1967 for former Journeymen bandmate Scott McKenzie. "San Francisco" is widely regarded as emblematic of 1960s American counterculture music. Phillips wrote the oft-covered "Me and My Uncle", which was a favorite in the repertoire of the Grateful Dead.
  Phillips helped promote the Monterey International Pop Music Festival held June 16 to 18, 1967, in Monterey, California; he performed with The Mamas & the Papas as part of the event as well. The festival was planned in just seven weeks, and was developed as a way to validate rock music as an art form in the way jazz and folk were regarded. It was the first major pop-rock music event in history.
  John and Michelle Phillips became Hollywood celebrities, living in the Hollywood Hills and socializing with stars such as Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, and Roman Polanski. The Mamas & the Papas broke up in 1968 largely because Cass Elliot wanted to go solo and because of personal problems between Phillips, his wife Michelle, and Denny Doherty, including Michelle's affair with Doherty. As Michelle Phillips later recounted, "Cass confronted me and said 'I don't get it. You could have any man you want. Why would you take mine (Doherty)?'" Michelle was fired briefly in 1966 for having affairs with Gene Clark and Doherty, she was replaced for two months by Jill Gibson, their producer Lou Adler's girlfriend. Although Michelle Phillips was forgiven and asked to return to the group, the personal problems continued until the group split. Cass Elliot went on to have a successful solo career until her death from heart failure in 1974.
caption: The Mamas and the Papas in 1968; Michelle Phillips, Mama Cass Elliot, Denny Doherty, John Phillips
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