The Mamas & The Papas

With their shimmering melodies, jangly 12-string guitars and strains of flower power psychedelia, The Mamas And The Papas helped define the 1960s West Coast sound and created some of the most uplifting pop hits of the era. John Phillips was a leading light of the folk scene with his group The Journeymen when a teenage Michelle Gilliam walked into one of his gigs and stole his heart. Both his marriage and his band broke up as the pair joined forces with Denny Doherty and, later, Cass Elliot. The band moved to California in 1965 where their melancholy folk ballads were injected with blazing summer sun and influenced by the emergence of The Beatles. It resulted in their signature song California Dreaming, a Number 4 hit that still stands as a classic slice of folk pop, and their debut album If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears went on to top the US charts. Monday Monday gave them their only US Number 1 single, but hits like I Saw Her Again, Dedicated To The One I Love, Creeque Alley and albums The Mamas & The Papas (1966) and Deliver (1967) took them to record sales of over 40 million. They split in 1972 and "Mama" Cass Elliot died two years later of a heart attack, but their music continues to capture the sound and spirit of the times.