TMS Muse of the Week: Michelle Phillips
(Henry Diltz)
Whenever singer-actress-model Michelle Phillips is confronted about the inter-relationship drama and gossip that surrounded the Mamas & the Papas, the original Mama of the foursome will instantly respond with something along the lines of: “Well that’s just how things were at the time. Every music group has angst and sexual tension if the members include men and women.” While this claim sounds a bit like Michelle saving face, she’s not entirely wrong. Very similar outcomes happened with Fleetwood Mac, Jefferson Airplane, Heart, Sonic Youth, and the White Stripes, just to name a few. But unlike the other bands, the Mamas & the Papas lasted only half the time. The iconic vocal group who captured the essence of flower power and youthful innocence was complete lightning in a bottle. Let me demonstrate this by going into Michelle’s own history. Born Holly Michelle Gilliam in the summer of 1944, the pretty brunette spent her childhood as a military brat throughout the west coast and Mexico before dropping out of high school and moving to San Francisco in early 1961 when she was only 16. Unsurprisingly, Michelle was quickly noticed by a local modeling agency and within no time was making a living and having fun in one of the biggest bohemian spots in the US.
Not long into posing for the cameras and on runways, the California girl was then instantly smitten with local musician and songwriter John Phillips—who was nine years older, already married and the father of a toddler. Despite the circumstances, John evidently became available and married Michelle over a year later in 1962. Though this is a big ‘yeesh’ moment through modern eyes, the former model claims there wasn’t any funny business, even with the age difference. John would continue his music career with the local act the New Journeymen before eventually crafting his own Peter, Paul & Mary like folk-pop trio with himself, Michelle and music scene peer Denny Doherty in 1964. Although Michelle didn’t have much vocal training, John gave his new wife an ultimatum of either joining the group or finding something to do while they rehearse because he didn’t want people mistaking her for a groupie. Luckily for music fans, Michelle turned out to have a nice singing voice that complimented her bandmates’ own notes.
(via pinterest.com)
The final missing piece of the puzzle would be Denny’s Mugwumps bandmate Cass Elliot. The powerhouse singer was the opposite of Michelle in appearance, but had double the musical talent. Reluctant to include a second female member initially, John relented, and the Mamas & the Papas were formed in 1965 to almost instant success. Debuting during the latter days of the ‘singles era,’ the four-piece act shot up the charts with classics like ‘California Dreamin’,’ ‘Monday, Monday,’ ‘I Saw Her Again,’ ‘12:30 (Young Girls are Coming to the Canyon),’ ‘Creeque Alley’ and ‘Go Where You Wanna Go’ throughout ‘65-67. Though the M&P formula generally featured Cass and Denny on lead vocals, the 1967 ballad ‘Dedicated to the One I Love’ is a rare instance where Michelle is front and center on a hit. The pop group even released a bonafide classic LP in ‘If You can Believe Your Eyes and Ears’ (1966), produced by recording legend Lou Adler, who was their main producer as well. With John’s songwriting, Denny’s and Cass’ voices and Michelle’s traditional beauty, it seemed like nothing could go wrong with the biggest group in pop music. Until…
When the Mamas & the Papas were first starting out, Cass was in love with Denny, Denny was attracted to Michelle, but Michelle was clearly already with John. Ultimately, hell broke loose when Michelle reciprocated the feeling to Denny, resulting in Cass heartbroken and John upset. The hook-up inspired the songs ‘I Saw Her Again’ on the group’s 1966 self-titled LP and ‘Got a Feelin’’ on ‘If You can Believe…’ Michelle was even kicked out of M&P after having an additional fling with Gene Clark of the Byrds. But the banishment only lasted a couple months when John and the others realized the fans weren’t going to accept Lou’s girlfriend Jill Gibson as the new Mama. Following Michelle’s extra-marital escapades throughout 1966 and 1967, the Mamas & the Papas parted ways in autumn of 1968 after four albums and five top 10 hit singles, with the Phillips couple also divorcing in 1969. To be fair to Michelle, Denny was responsible for his end of their fling and John himself did have affairs with both Mia Farrow and Ann Marshall. Though, even without the messy off-stage antics, I don’t think M&P would have had much longevity into the 1970s anyway. Hard rock, soft rock and prog rock were all about to spread over the music community by the end of the 1960s, and the foursome’s brand of sunny pop music would be overtaken by family friendly acts like the Cowsills, the Partridge Family and the Archies in 1970.
As we know, Cass’ superstardom and solo career were sadly cut short in 1974 when she passed at age 32 of a cardiac arrest [not eating a ham sandwich, by the way]. John infamously became a trainwreck from hard drugs, while his daughter from his first marriage—Mackenzie—disturbingly claimed in 2009 [eight years after John’s death] that they had an incestuous past. Denny continued to lowkey work as a musician, though nothing as flashy as M&P’s popularity. Despite accusations of being just eye candy and limited in talent, Michelle actually became the most active M&P member, although not necessarily in music. She had a modest hit with the ballad ‘No Love Today’ in 1976 and her lone solo album ‘Victim of Romance’ was released a year later. But the vocalist has admitted she was always a ‘studio rat’ and hated performing live. Instead, she spent the next three decades acting in film and on TV. Most notably John Milius’ crime biopic Dillinger (1973), which got her a Golden Globe nom for Most Promising Newcomer; and a supporting role on CBS’ melodrama “Knots Landing” (1987-1993). And of course, you can find Michelle in plenty of music documentaries like D.A. Pennebaker’s Monterey Pop (1968), Andrew Slater’s Echo in the Canyon (2018), Alison Ellwood’s “Laurel Canyon” (2020) and VH1’s 1998 “Behind the Music” episode on the Mamas & the Papas.
Michelle is also mother to three children, including her and John’s daughter Chynna Phillips [b. 1968], of the pop super-trio Wilson Phillips. After her first divorce, Michelle had an even more chaotic and volatile relationship with her The Last Movie (1971) co-star and director Dennis Hopper; with the pair on record for having one of the shortest marriages in Hollywood history [one whole week in November 1970]. She also dated Dennis’ friends Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty later in the ‘70s. These days you can spot Michelle on various videos on Chynna’s YouTube channel as well as at Wilson Phillips concerts. Unfortunately, Michelle’s relationship with her stepdaughter hasn’t been the best since Michelle defended John after Mackenzie’s confession. Some say Michelle got lucky, others accuse her of having ‘pretty privilege’ or being two-faced. But she’s still here to share her side of the stories.