The Mamas and the Papas
The Mamas and the Papas | |
---|---|
General information | |
Genre (s) | Pop , folk rock |
founding | 1965, 1971 |
resolution | 1968, 1972 |
Founding members | |
John Phillips † | |
Cass Elliot † | |
Michelle Phillips | |
Denny Doherty † | |
former members | |
Vocals (only briefly as a substitute) |
Jill Gibson |
The Mamas and the Papas was an American music group from the 1960s, best known for their titles California Dreamin ' , Monday, Monday and Dream a Little Dream of Me , among others .
story
John Phillips began his musical career with Scott McKenzie in a group called The Smoothies before they formed The Journeymen together. Denny Doherty and Cass Elliot were previously with the Mugwumps . John and his wife Michelle met Doherty and Elliot in Los Angeles in 1964 . The four first went to the Caribbean on the American Virgin Islands to get to know each other better. On her return in 1965, Barry McGuire introduced her to his producer Lou Adler , with whom she signed her first recording deal . The group was now called The Mamas & The Papas, based on the rockers of the Hells Angels , whose female members were called Mamas.
The first song California Dreamin ' , released in November 1965, was a huge success and was the prelude to a number of hits including Monday, Monday , Go Where You Wanna Go and Dedicated to the One I Love . John and Michelle Phillips had written the piece back in 1963 while living in New York, inspired by Michelle Phillips' homesickness that moved them to California. The group broke new ground by combining female and male voices for the first time. With their floating sound, which combined pop and folk, and the lyrical lyrics, they expressed the lifestyle of the flower power movement like no other band .
When John Phillips found out about the affair between his wife Michelle and Gene Clark of the Byrds , he kicked them out of the band on June 28, 1966, and Jill Gibson was hired as a replacement. Just two months later, Phillips rejoined his wife in late August, and Gibson received severance pay.
The group performed in 1967 at the Monterey Pop Festival , which John Phillips had organized and which was filmed as "Monterey Pop".
In late 1968, John and Michelle Phillips divorced when The Mamas and the Papas already went their separate ways musically. In the summer of 1971, the four musicians, who had been working on their solo careers in the meantime, got together again for an album, People Like Us , because they were contractually obliged to do so. It was unsuccessful and remained the last of the group. In late July 1974, Cass Elliot died of a heart attack.
In 1982, John Phillips and Denny Doherty formed a new group called The Mamas and the Papas , which in addition to these two original members also included Phillips' daughter Mackenzie Phillips and Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane (formerly Spanky and Our Gang ). Due to unsuccessfulness, the band did not stay together in their initial line-up for long.
In 1998 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame .
In March 2001, John Phillips died of heart failure. In January 2007, Denny Doherty succumbed to an artery dilation . This makes Michelle Phillips the only founding member still alive.
Discography
Albums
year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
DE | UK | US | |||
1966 | If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears | - | - |
US1
platinum
(105 weeks)US |
127th place in the Rolling Stone 500
|
The Mamas & the Papas |
DE14 (16 weeks) DE |
UK3 (18 weeks) UK |
US4th
gold
(76 weeks)US |
||
1967 | Cass, John, Michelle, Denny | - |
UK24 (6 weeks) UK |
- | |
The Mamas & the Papas Deliver |
DE30 (4 weeks) DE |
UK4 (22 weeks) UK |
US2
gold
(55 weeks)US |
||
Farewell to the First Golden Era | - | - |
US5
gold
(65 weeks)US |
Best of album
|
|
1968 | The Papas & the Mamas | - | - |
US15 (34 weeks) US |
|
Golden Era, Vol. 2 | - | - |
US53 (13 weeks) US |
Best of album
|
|
1969 | Hits of gold | - |
UK9
silver
(2 weeks)UK |
- |
Best of album
|
16 of Their Greatest Hits | - | - |
US61 (26 weeks) US |
Best of album
|
|
1971 | People Like Us | - | - |
US84 (8 weeks) US |
|
1973 | 20 golden hits | - |
UK-
platinum
UK
|
US186 (4 weeks) US |
Best of album
|
1977 | The Best of the Mamas and Papas | - |
UK6th × 2
(13 weeks)UK |
- |
Best of album
|
1992 | Daydream - The Famous Hits of the Mamas & the Papas |
DE7 (20 weeks) DE |
- | - |
Best of album
|
1995 | California Dreamin '- The Very Best Of | - |
UK14th
silver
(8 weeks)UK |
- |
Best of album
|
1997 | California Dreamin '- Greatest Hits Of | - |
UK30th
silver
(5 weeks)UK |
- |
Best of album
|
2006 | California Dreamin '- The Best Of | - |
UK21
gold
(4 weeks)UK |
- |
Best of album
|
More compilations
- 1988: Very Best of Mamas and Papas (UK:silver)
- 1998: Greatest Hits (423rd place in the Rolling Stone 500 )
- 2004: 20th Century Masters - The Best of the Mamas & the Papas (US:gold)
- 2016: Ultimate Anthology
Singles
year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DE | AT | CH | UK | US | |||
1966 |
California Dreamin ' If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears |
DE31 (9 weeks) DE |
- | - |
UK9
platinum
(19 weeks)UK |
US4th
gold
(17 weeks)US |
Authors: John Phillips , Michelle Gilliam
89th place in the Rolling Stone 500 , Grammy Hall of Fame , Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 1997 with a new edition, top position 9 weeks and 2013 1 week (80th place) in the UK charts |
Monday, Monday If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears |
DE2
gold
(20 weeks)DE |
AT2 (12 weeks) AT |
- |
UK3 (13 weeks) UK |
US1
gold
(12 weeks)US |
Author: John Phillips
Grammy (R&R Performance Group) |
|
I Saw Her Again The Mamas & the Papas |
DE21 (6 weeks) DE |
- | - |
UK11 (11 weeks) UK |
US5 (9 weeks) US |
Authors: John Phillips, Denny Doherty
|
|
Look Through My Window The Mamas & the Papas Deliver |
- | - | - | - |
US24 (7 weeks) US |
Author: John Phillips
|
|
Words of Love The Mamas & the Papas |
- | - | - |
UK47 (3 weeks) UK |
US5 (12 weeks) US |
Author: John Phillips
|
|
Dancing in the Street The Mamas & the Papas |
- | - | - | - |
US73 (6 weeks) US |
in USA B-side of Words of Love
Original: Martha & the Vandellas (1964) |
|
1967 | Dedicated to the One I Love The Mamas & the Papas Deliver |
DE26 (10 weeks) DE |
- | - |
UK2 (17 weeks) UK |
US2 (10 weeks) US |
Original: The "5" Royales (1957)
|
Creeque Alley The Mamas & the Papas Deliver |
- | - | - |
UK9 (11 weeks) UK |
US5 (9 weeks) US |
biographical song: the title is the address of her temporary residence in the Virgin Islands
Author: John Phillips, Michelle Gilliam |
|
Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon) Farewell to the First Golden Era |
- | - | - | - |
US20 (6 weeks) US |
Author: John Phillips
|
|
Glad to Be Unhappy Golden Era, Vol. 2 |
- | - | - | - |
US26 (7 weeks) US |
||
Dancing Bear The Mamas & the Papas |
- | - | - | - |
US51 (7 weeks) US |
Author: John Phillips
|
|
1968 | Safe in My Garden The Papas and the Mamas |
- | - | - | - |
US53 (6 weeks) US |
Author: John Phillips
|
For the Love of Ivy The Papas and the Mamas |
- | - | - | - |
US81 (5 weeks) US |
Authors: John Phillips, Denny Doherty
the title is based on the film For Love of Ivy by Sidney Poitier from the same year |
|
Do You Wanna Dance If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears |
- | - | - | - |
US76 (5 weeks) US |
Original / Author: Bobby Freeman (1958)
|
|
1972 | Step Out People Like Us |
- | - | - | - |
US81 (3 weeks) US |
Author: John Phillips
|
Mama Cass with The Mamas and the Papas | |||||||
1968 |
Dream a Little Dream of Me The Papas and the Mamas |
DE5 (25 weeks) DE |
- |
CH22 (5 weeks) CH |
UK11 (12 weeks) UK |
US12 (11 weeks) US |
hatched gray : no chart data available for this year
Awards for music sales
Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.
Country / RegionAwards for Mu-sik-ver-käu-fe (country / region, awards, sales, sources) |
silver | gold | platinum | Sales | sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Germany (BVMI) | - | gold1 | - | 500,000 | See individual evidence |
United States (RIAA) | - | 6 × gold6th | platinum1 | 5,000,000 | riaa.com |
United Kingdom (BPI) | 4 × silver4th | gold1 | 4 × platinum4th | 1,840,000 | bpi.co.uk |
All in all | 4 × silver4th | 8 × gold8th | 5 × platinum5 |
Further awards
- 1993: in the category "Commercial Song of the Year" (Dream a Little Dream of Me)
literature
- Matthias Blazek: The Mamas and The Papas - flower power icons, psychedelics and sexual revolution . Ibidem-Verlag, Stuttgart 2014, ISBN 978-3-8382-0577-9 .
- Irwin Stambler: The Encyclopedia Of Pop, Rock And Soul . 3rd Revised Edition, New York City, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989, pp. 429-431, ISBN 0-312-02573-4 .
- Jay Warner: The Billboard Book Of American Singing Groups. A History 1940–1990 . New York City / New York: Billboard Books, 1992, pp. 415f.
- The Mamas and the Papas: History and 16 of their greatest hits . Songbook, HAL LEONARD PUB CO, 1991, ISBN 978-0-7935-0836-5 (English).
sources
- ↑ [1] (English)
- ^ Phillips, Michelle (1986): California Dreamin ': The True Story of the Mamas and the Papas. New York, NY: Warner Books. ISBN 0-44634-430-3 . 1986, pp. 72, 73 in the American edition
- ↑ The Mamas and the Papas in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (English)
- ↑ a b Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
- ^ A b US singles: Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2006. Billboard Books, New York 2007, ISBN 0-89820-172-1 . / US albums: The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .
- ^ Günter Ehnert: Hit Bilanz - German Chart Singles 1956-1980 . 1st edition. Verlag popular music-literature, Norderstedt 2000, ISBN 3-922542-24-7 , p. 445 .
- ↑ Mama Cass in the British charts
- ↑ RSH Gold Award 1993 (English)
Web links
- Vocal Group Hall of Fame - article about The Mamas & the Papas (English)
- David Redd's fan page