<em>Is Anybody There?</em>: Papa Denny Doherty 1940-2007

Denny Doherty, 1 of the founding members of The Mamas & the Papas passed away Friday morning at his home in Mississauga, ONT. He was 66 years old. Michelle Phillips is now the only surviving member of the group. Mama Cass Elliot died 29 July 1974 & Papa John Phillips died on 18 March 2001.

Papa Denny was born 29 November 1940 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1960 he formed his 1st group, The Colonials. In 1963 he met Mama Cass & later he met John & Michelle Phillips who were on tour with their group. Eventually after their belonging to various groups over the next 2 years, including Cass & Denny being in The Mugwumps, the 4 came together in 1965. Upon signing with ABC Dunhill records they took the name The Mamas & the Papas.

Their 1st hit was the classic California Dreamin'. Other hits included Monday, Monday, Go Where You Wanna Go, I Saw Her Again, I Call Your Name, Dancing In The Street, Dedicated to the One I Love & Dream a Little of Dream of Me. 1 of their songs, Creeque Alley, was a musical semi-autobiography of the founding of the group. & yes, the bit about "breezing on American Express Card" is true. The group broke up in 1968. They did get together for an album in 1971. Mama Cass' death in 1974 put an end to any hopes of another reunion. Later a new version of the group was formed included the Phillips' daughter Mackenzie Phillips and Spanky & Our Gang's Spanky McFarlane along with Denny & John.

Starting in the early 90s he did a live show called Dream a Little Dream: The Nearly True Story of the Mamas & the Papas about his time with the group. His explanation of the word nearly in the title: "So, some of what I'm going to tell you tonight didn't happen...The stories will be stacked up, melded and muddled together and time will be warped." Talking about the show & Mama Cass to The Kansas City Star he said: "If it wasn't for her, there would be no group, I'd like to get that across. And that she didn't die from a frickin' ham sandwich."

The last performance of the 3 living members at the time was in 1998 when the group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Cass' daughter Owen sang her part. Denny was also the Harbormaster & did all the voiceovers for the children's TV series "Theodore Tugboat".

Denny was married twice & is survived by a daughter Jessica from a brief first marriage and a daughter Emberly and son John by his 20-year marriage to his second wife, Jeannette, who died in 1998.

I have many great memories of their music, both as a group & the solo efforts. As has been pointed out by so many they were 1 of the few American groups to survive the "British Invasion". & the songs I mentioned above are the proof as to why. The way their voices blended was like a well conducted orchestra. The sum was much more than the total of the parts. It is hard to explain how their music meant to me as a 10 yr old. The best I can say is that it made my life so much richer.

Like Mama Cass sang in her hit solo single, what you did was: "Make Your Own Kind of Music". Thanks for the music & the memories Denny!

With you gone, this Winter's Day is just a little BIT COLDER!

Here are a few of the many songs they did:

Creeque Alley