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Singer/songwriter John Phillips, leading force and founding member of the ’60s group The Mamas & The Papas, died Sunday morning at the age of 65.
According to a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Medical Center at the University of California, he expired due to heart failure. Phillips had received a liver transplant in 1992, necessary after all the years of substance abuse.
Born John Edmund Andrew Phillips on August 30, 1935, in Parris Island, SC, Phillips had had a relatively successful folk career by the time he formed The Mamas & The Papas in 1965. In three short years, the group had helped forge the sound of pop music.
Among the many hit Mamas & Papas songs penned or co-penned by the Grammy winning Rock and Roll Hall of Famer were “California Dreamin’,” “Monday, Monday,” “Creeque Alley,” and “I Saw Her Again,” as well as hits by others, such as the Scott MacKenzie recording, “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair),” and “Kokomo” by The Beach Boys.
The Mamas & The Papas were the leading California-based vocal group of the 1960’s and were one of the musical groups that defined the sound of the decade. Their credo was “live free, play free, and love free,” and it was certainly applied in the various free festivals that John spearheaded, including 1967’s Monterey Pop Festival.
John Phillips is survived by his wife of six years, Farnaz, three ex-wives (Susan, Michelle, and Genevieve), five children (Mackenzie, Jeffrey, Chynna, Tamerlane, and Bijou), and 2 stepchildren.
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