Feeling old. R.I.P. Denny Doherty of the Mamas and Poppas

In the next 5 years we should see a lot of the great musicians from the 1960's croak. Kind of like watching the rat pack die off in the 1990's.

You can't smoke, drink like a fish and do drugs for 20 years in your youth and live to 90. (I'm sure there are the oddball exceptions).

Who big will be next? Eric Clapton, Ron Wood, Keith Richards, Ringo Starr?

He was the least known member of the foursome even though he actually sang most of the leads.

He lived in New England for awhile in the mid-70s and I used to see him around. He was in horrendous shape; I remember one party that he essentially cleared out with his drunken behavior. At that point, I wouldn't have bet much of him making it to 1980. But he survived and cleaned up. RIP Denny indeed.

I am betting Ringo outlasts Paul.

I'm moving the first two Mama's and Papa's CD's onto my I-pod now while whistfully looking at the album covers.

RIP Denny, thanks for the great music.

Mamas & Papas Member Doherty Dies at 66

By Associated Press

Published January 19, 2007, 5:44 PM CST

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. -- Denny Doherty, one-quarter of the 1960s folk-rock group the Mamas and the Papas, known for their soaring harmony on hits like "California Dreamin'" and "Monday, Monday," died Friday at 66.

His sister Frances Arnold said the singer-songwriter died at his home in Mississauga, a city just west of Toronto, after a short illness. He had suffered kidney problems following surgery last month and had been put on dialysis, Arnold said.

The group burst on the national scene in 1966 with the top 10 smash "California Dreamin'." The Mamas and the Papas broke new ground by having women and men in one group at a time when most singing groups were unisex. John Phillips, the group's chief songwriter; his wife, Michelle; and another female vocalist, Cass Elliot, teamed with Doherty.

"Monday, Monday" hit No. 1 on the charts and won the band a Grammy for best contemporary group performance. Among the group's other songs were "I Saw Her Again Last Night," "Go Where You Wanna Go," "Dancing Bear," and versions of "I Call Your Name" and "Dedicated to the One I Love."

"What made the group special was their haunting and sumptuous harmony singing," according to "The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll."

"Everybody used to think that John Phillips, who wrote the songs, was also the main voice of the group, but it wasn't -- it was the angelic voice of Denny Doherty," said Larry Leblanc, Canadian editor of Billboard Magazine. "He was often overlooked but it was really his voice that carried the group."

In 1998, the Mamas and the Papas were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The group's catchy sound was a blend of '60s upbeat pop and the folk music that had surged in popularity early in the decade. The song "Creeque Alley" told the story of their formation amid the musical ferment of the folk scene; among the other stars-to-be mentioned in its lyrics were members of the Lovin' Spoonful and the Byrds.

Folk superstars Peter, Paul and Mary paid their own tribute to the Mamas and the Papas with their humorous 1967 hit "I Dig Rock and Roll Music."

But the group's heyday was brief and it disbanded in 1968 following John and Michelle Phillips' divorce. The members re-formed in 1971 for the album "People Like Us," but all hope for a reunion ended in 1974 when the 32-year-old Elliot suffered a fatal heart attack in London.

Phillips briefly re-formed the group in 1982 with Doherty, Phillips' actress daughter, Mackenzie, and Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane. The foursome toured playing oldies and new Phillips originals.

In 2003, Doherty was co-author and performer in an off-Broadway show called "Dream a Little Dream: The Mamas and the Papas Musical." It traced the band's early years, its dizzying fame and breakup amid drugs and alcohol and an affair between Doherty and Michelle Phillips.

"There's a part of this thing that if I'm not careful, I'd be just a blob on the stage crying my guts out," Doherty told The Associated Press at the time. "Everybody knows about death and dying and sadness, so it's an exercise in staying in the moment and not getting maudlin about your friends dying."

John Phillips died in 2001 at 65.

The Halifax-born Doherty started his music career in Montreal in 1960 as the co-founder of the Colonials, which later became the Halifax Three.

Doherty made a solo album in 1974 and achieved a bit of immortality by both playing the Harbormaster and voicing all the characters for the children's TV series "Theodore Tugboat."

Doherty, who was married twice, is survived by three children, John, Emberly and Jessica; three sisters; and a brother. Both of his wives predeceased him.

Poppa Denny had a touring show about the group-I caught it in In NYC in the same location that once was Down Stairs at the Upstairs last year.Nice walk down Memory Lane. Cass was something- I really loved her voice. They actually did very few public shows so count yourself lucky if you were at one.

you have no control over premature disease, slaps. you are warned.

If I have no control, what's the sense of warning me?

Does premature disease cover strokes, heart attacks, and cancer in your 60's?

I always thought they were always lifestyle diseases.

What a relief. Its already predetermined so no need to change a thing.

yeah, I'm feeling REALLY old, now! Wasn't that just "yesterday" that we were "California dreamin'".............in MINNESOTA?? Great songs from this group

My favorite song of theirs was actually "12:30. It doesn't get as much attention as some of the other hits.

Is it true that the apartment Cass Elliot died in, in 1974, also saw the death of Keith Moon(Who?) 4 years later?

In an earlier post I said I saw Denny's show last year-turns out it was 3 years ago-time fly's.

I think "12:30" might be my favorite song of theirs as well.

The guy was lucky enough to bang Michelle Phillips a few times when she was the hottest woman on the planet.

The apartment Keith Moon died in was indeed the same one that Mama Cass expired. It was owned by Harry Nilsson, who also died at a young age I believe. About a month before The Who shot the cover photo for "Who are You?" and Keith was front and center sitting in a reversed folding chair with "Not To Be Taken Away" printed on the back rest.

Talk about an omen!

And as far as Michelle Phillips, she was indeed one of the hottest women on the planet in the early '70s. Watch the movie "Dellinger" she was in with Warren Oates for more proof. Speaking of Oates, he didn't live too long either.

California grievin' on such a winter's day

By Cory Franklin

Published January 24, 2007

The seductive melody opens with a seven-second guitar riff that introduces a distinctive voice singing haunting lyrics, about a man pondering whether to leave his bleak winter surroundings for the idyll of California:

All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray.

I've been for a walk on a winter's day,

I'd be safe and warm, if I was in L.A.

The song was "California Dreamin'" and who knows how many imagined leaving their homes for California, or whether some actually packed up and moved after hearing it. Certainly anyone who remembers 1966 knows someone who did, since it coincided with America's mid-'60s migration to the West Coast.

That siren's voice belonged to Denny Doherty, who died last week. His mellifluous tenor led the harmony of the Mamas and the Papas, the first rock group to incorporate the voices of men and women. Life magazine called them "the most inventive pop musical group and first really new vocal sound since the Beatles." For a brief period, they were No. 1, top of the pops, and they saturated the airwaves with harmonies of their well-crafted songs.

But like California itself, the seduction of fame didn't always live up to its billing. If any group was a testimony to the excesses of the rock lifestyle and '60s burnout it was the Mamas and Papas. Their talent, good looks and hip attitude made John and Michelle Phillips, Mama Cass Elliott and Doherty the royalty of Southern California. At a time when Hollywood's old studio system was dying and movie stars were losing their luster, the Mamas and the Papas (group name courtesy of the Hells Angels) were the first rockers to fill the void as kings and queens. They bought mansions built by the silent film stars and hosted lavish parties where everyone, including the Beatles and Rolling Stones, came to pay homage.

Between hit songs, they planned and organized the Monterey Pop Festival, the first large-scale rock festival, which forever changed rock 'n' roll and the culture it spawned. It was a multicultural event, performed for charity, and featured breakout performances by, among others, the Who, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding.

Unfortunately, where there is rock 'n' roll, there are sex and drugs, the ultimate downfall of the Mamas and the Papas. Denny had an affair with Michelle, which didn't sit well with Mama Cass, who had an unrequited crush on him, or with Michelle's husband, John, the leader of the group. The group broke up amid squabbles and drug use--the money spent, the mansions sold.

Their breakup, like that of the Beatles, meant four young people whose talents meshed perfectly together were left to go their separate ways. (Give credit to the Rolling Stones for putting egos and personal problems aside to remain together so long).

Mama Cass had aspirations to be the next Barbra Streisand and had the voice to pull it off. On her way to realizing her dream after a command performance at the London Palladium, she died alone in a hotel room, less than a decade after "California Dreamin'" hit the charts.

Michelle, the only California native, wed actor Dennis Hopper in a marriage that lasted eight days. She described them as the happiest days of her life. Once hailed as one of the most beautiful women in Southern California, she has made a career playing the mother of Southern California ingenues on popular television melodramas.

John, who could have been one of the great songwriters of his generation, tried his hand unsuccessfully on Broadway after an unremarkable solo career. A drug habit led to a brief prison term and ultimately to a liver transplant. He died of medical complications, an old man before his time. Upon his death, the rock community hailed him as a creative genius, though he never quite lived up to his promise.

Now the Papas are gone.

After the breakup of the Mamas and Papas, Denny Doherty returned to his native Canada, where he'd left folk music behind. He became a minor star on children's television but never again found the right vehicle for his beautiful tenor. As he grew older, he wistfully regretted the fact he never married Mama Cass.

His death came on a winter's day when the sky was gray and a mid-January cold wave swept over the Ontario plains. The promise of "California Dreamin'" was long ago and far away.

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Cory Franklin lives in Wilmette.

slaps wrote:

Who big will be next? Eric Clapton?

We can only hope.

My 5 years old loved "The HarbourMaster" that show was so mellow. Thanks Denny

When I think of Baby Boomers, hippies, hyporacy, fake liberalism, and the general stupidity of peace, love, blah blah blah I think of this group.

I cring whenever I hear that crap in a doctor's office or if I'm stuck some where playing "classic" rock.

They seem to typify their generation with an arrogant sense of self importance.

Rock stars should act like rock stars and know thier place. It's about entertainment- that is it.

The Stones might be the only classic rock group that always knew their job was to entertain nothing more.

I think the one thing I hate most of all about this group was the guy that wore the dumb @ss fur hat. WTF was that about??????

Thank you for you obnoxious comment.

The thread seemed like it was simply an excuse for those old enough to reminice about a time gone by.

If you have nothing constructive to add, maybe you should consider keeping your comments to yourself, like I do when there is a pre or Jason Rexing thread.