Canadian Member Of Mamas & Papas Dies In Mississauga
Posted January 19, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
He was a founding member of one of the most amazing vocal groups of the 60s. And he was a Canadian who never forgot his roots.
Denny Doherty, one of the lead singers of the Mamas and the Papas, has died. A family member confirms the Halifax native passed away at his Mississauga home on Friday.
He had been suffering from kidney problems and was on dialysis, but succumbed after suffering an aneurysm in his abdomen. He’d been released from hospital in mid-December.
Doherty (pictured second from right) began his career as a folk singer in the 1960s, hitting the clubs in Montreal as part of a group that came to be called the Halifax Three.
It was while he was touring with that combo that he ultimately met Cass Elliott and John and Michelle Phillips, who would make up the quartet that would rocket to fame several years later.
After a series of musical mélanges detailed in the group’s later hit “Creeque Alley”, they found themselves signed to ABC Dunhill Records.
And after living off credit cards and struggling just to keep food on the table, the members were stunned to discover their first song for the label, called “California Dreamin'”, had climbed to the top of the charts in 1966.
The kid from Canada was suddenly rich, famous and in demand.
The newly christened Mamas and Papas (named after what motorcycle gangs called their women) became a sensation, touring and appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show, after having been completely obscure just months before.
They continued a prodigious output of classic hits, all bound by the magnificent songs mostly penned by Phillips, the soaring vocals of Doherty, and the harmonies of the ladies.
Tunes like “I Saw Her Again” (about Phillips realizing Doherty was having an affair with his wife), “Dream A Little Dream of Me”, “Words of Love”, “Dedicated to the One I Love, and “12:30” gave them hit after hit.
But there was one song no one wanted to do except Phillips. The other members hated it but owed the record company a tune and reluctantly cut it and released it. It was called “Monday Monday” and became their biggest hit.
Dissension, discord and drugs all combined to sink the Mamas and the Papas and the band dissolved amid much rancor in 1968.
All the members went their separate ways, with Doherty eventually starting a brand new chapter in his career as an actor in live theatre and eventually the skipper in the Canadian TV show “Theodore Tugboat” in 1993.
The Mamas and the Papas were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that same year.
His family knew he wasn’t well but didn’t realize how serious things really were. “We weren’t expecting it,” his older sister Frances Arnold admits.
Doherty had just celebrated his birthday in November. He was 66.
Photo credit: Jon Levy/AFP
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