John Phillips was an American musician who led the Mamas & the Papas, one of the most influential groups of the 1960s. Known as Papa John, he wrote and arranged most of the band’s hits, such as “California Dreamin'”, “Monday, Monday”, and “Creeque Alley”. He also helped organize the historic Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, which featured performances by Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and The Who.

Phillips was born in 1935 in Parris Island, South Carolina, and grew up in a military family. He started his musical career in New York, where he formed The Journeymen with Scott McKenzie and Dick Weissman. He later met his second wife, Michelle Phillips, and his future bandmates, Denny Doherty and Cass Elliot, in the Greenwich Village folk scene. The four of them moved to Los Angeles and became the Mamas & the Papas, blending folk, pop, and rock with their distinctive vocal harmonies.

The Mamas & the Papas had a meteoric rise and fall, releasing five albums and 17 singles in four years. They broke up in 1968, amid personal conflicts, and changing musical tastes. Phillips continued to write songs for other artists, such as “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)” for Scott McKenzie, and “Kokomo” for The Beach Boys. He also released several solo albums, but none of them matched his earlier success.

Phillips struggled with drug addiction for most of his life and was arrested several times for drug-related offenses. He also had a turbulent personal life, marrying four times and having five children. Phillips died in 2001, at the age of 65, from heart failure. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, along with the other members of the Mamas & the Papas.