Popular Sixties Band The Mamas and the Papas The way this band came together has everything to do with the saying – if something is meant to happen it will happen. The group members were Denny Doherty, Cass Elliot, John Phillips, Michelle Phillips and Jill Gibson. Coming Together The first time that John Phillips saw Michelle Gilliam was at the hungy i nightclub in San Francisco. True love for them was a rough path since Michelle was 16 and John was 25 and already married. However he did get a divorce and married his California girl. During this time his group The Journeymen had broken up and he was trying to come up with a new group. He created the group The New Journeymen and included his wife Michelle. Along came Denny Doherty and stepped …show more content…
but the others flew into New York. It was so cold there after the islands that Michelle wanted to head for the West Coast. John collaborated with her and they wrote one of their greatest hits “California Dreamin’”. On the West Coast the four members met at Western Recording Studios and Elliot mentioned that their group included both mamas and papas and so their name so the light of day and they officially became The Mamas and the Papas. Their first Top Ten hit was “California Dreamin’”. After recording their first album If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears they practically became an overnight hit. The album was released in March 1966 and besides their first hit included the singles “Monday, Monday” and “Do You Wanna Dance?” However the group members started fighting among themselves. They had all moved into a big house in Hollywood and this resulted in Michelle and Doherty drifting into a flirtatious affair, Elliot getting resentful and John slowing withdrawing from everyone. The more popular they became the more they partied and the drug use grew. At this time John wrote “I Saw Her Again Last Night”. By the time they entered the studio to record their second album Michelle and Elliot had drifted away to live separately and John and Doherty remained