Denny Doherty

Denny Doherty, 2nd from right, 1967

Denny Doherty , actually Dennis Gerrard Stephen Doherty (born November 29, 1940 in Halifax , Nova Scotia , † January 19, 2007 in Mississauga , Ontario ), was a Canadian singer and member of the group The Mamas and the Papas .

Career

In 1960 Doherty founded the folk group The Colonials in Halifax , with whom he went to Montreal , Québec in 1961 , and to Toronto in 1962 . When the group got a recording deal with Columbia's Epic Records in 1963 , the name was changed to The Halifax Three ( The Halifax III ). The band had their only hit with The Man Who Wouldn't Sing Along With Mitch and was disbanded in 1963. Curiously, this breakup happened in a hotel called The Colonial .

In 1963, the singer made friends with Cass Elliot , who was playing in the band The Big 3 at the time. During a tour with the Halifax Three , he finally met the singer John Phillips and his wife Michelle .

After The Halifax Three broke up , Doherty and Zal Yanovsky , who had accompanied the band's tours, became members of The Big 3 at Elliot's endeavor . Since the number of band members had risen to four, the band changed its name to The Mugwumps ; it was unsuccessful, went bankrupt and soon broke up.

During this time, John Phillips' band The New Journeymen needed a replacement for the dropped singer Marshall Brickman . After Doherty took over Brickman's part, Cass Elliot was also accepted into the band, which from now on called itself The Magic Circle . In September 1965, the group signed a recording deal with Dunhill Records and changed their name to The Mamas and the Papas . The debut album If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears was released soon after.

Time at The Mamas and the Papas

In the following time the band had their first great success, but then it was announced that Denny Doherty and Michelle had an affair with each other, which they could keep secret for a long time.

John and Michelle left the house they shared with Denny Doherty, but the band persisted despite the infidelity between them, a short time later Michelle had to leave the band, but was soon resumed.

In 1968 The Mamas and the Papas went their own way for the time being and broke up in 1971 after a fifth and final joint LP in the original line-up.

Time after that

Elliot and Doherty remained friends afterwards, but Doherty soon began to drink.

In 1971 the solo LP Watcha Gonna Do was created . Some of the songs on it were written by Doherty. In the following years he released other singles, such as B. Indian Girl and Baby Catch The Moon , which were not successful in the charts.

In 1974 there was a sad reunion with the old band members at the funeral of Cass Elliot, who had recently died of a heart attack. For Doherty's second solo LP Waiting for a Song (produced in the same year) she contributed the backing vocals with Michelle.

In 1982 The Mamas and the Papas started a new beginning, the band now consisted of Doherty, John Phillips, his daughter Mackenzie Phillips and Spanky McFarlane . The band toured again with old and new songs, but the success failed, so The Mamas and the Papas were finally dissolved.

Then Doherty produced the very successful Broadway musical Dream a Little Dream , in which the story of the band was told from his point of view.

In 1993 Doherty was seen in the children's series Theodore Tugboat on television; then he withdrew visibly from the public.

In 1996 he was honored with induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame .

Denny Doherty died of an aortic aneurysm on January 19, 2007 at his Mississauga , Ontario home .

He was married twice and had one child with both wives - a son and a daughter.

Web links

• Denny Doherty in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Report of death at Spiegel-Online

Individual evidence

1. ^ Canadian Music Hall of Fame - Inductees. Canadian Music Hall of Fame , accessed August 6, 2017 .