History
Denny Doherty, Cass Elliot, John Phillips, and Michelle Phillips formed the group after previous folk groups (The Mugwumps, The New Journeymen) failed.
After The New Journeymen folded, Doherty, John and Michelle Phillips and others decamped to The Virgin Islands in January 1965 with $9000; Cass Elliott followed on a month later. After several months the money had run out and they didn't even have enough for their air fare back home. Down to their last $20, John Phillips suggested that they raise money by gambling. Michelle Phillips played Craps, and despite having never played before she threw eighteen 7's in a row, making more than sufficient money to return home to New York.
The band tried to work on another album, to which they were contractually bound. After making no progress, they decided to take a trip in October 1967 to Europe to spark their creativity. While in England at a party thrown by Dunhill Records, their record label, Elliot was talking to Mick Jagger. John approached them and made an insulting remark about her in front of the guests. Disgusted and humiliated, she stormed out of the party and quit the band. Their record company released a Greatest Hits compilation as a stopgap measure. Cass was contractually bound for the band's next LP, and therefore appeared on The Papas & the Mamas, the group's fourth album.

The group's origins
The band broke up in July 1968. After the group's break up, Cass Elliot admitted in a rare interview with Rolling Stone magazine that she wanted to go solo, which caused the official break up of the band.
Cass Elliot started a very successful solo career and toured the U.S. and Europe, becoming popular with hits such as "Make Your Own Kind of Music" and "It's Getting Better." John Phillips also had a moderate solo hit in 1970 with "Mississippi." In reviewing their contracts, the record company decided the band owed them one more album. After about a year apart, the band regrouped and released their final album People Like Us in 1971.
While on tour with her solo act, Elliot died of a heart attack on July 29, 1974. John Phillips died of heart failure on March 18, 2001. Denny Doherty had a solo hit on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1974 with a rendition of the standard "You'll Never Know", and went on to host a popular variety show in Canada. Denny Doherty died on January 19, 2007. His sister, Frances Arnold, said the singer-songwriter died at his home in Mississauga, a Toronto suburb, after a short illness. Michelle Phillips went on to a successful acting career, appearing in the 1973 movie Dillinger as well in the television drama Knots Landing, among others.

The group's demise
John's eldest daughter from his first marriage, Mackenzie Phillips, had a successful career as an actress in the mid-70s, having first appeared in George Lucas's hit film American Graffiti (1973) and then in the successful TV series One Day at a Time, but found her success so overshadowed by her problems with drug addiction—habits that she had shared personally with her father—that by 1979 her career had effectively ended due to her inability to work. John and Michelle's daughter, Chynna, would go on to form the band Wilson Phillips along with Carnie Wilson and Wendy Wilson (the daughters of Beach Boy Brian Wilson), with whom she's been friends since infancy. John's youngest daughter, Bijou Phillips, is a successful actress and model.
The Mamas & the Papas were inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000.
Succeeding incarnations of The Mamas & the Papas toured small venues nationwide— the most notable included John Phillips, his daughter Mackenzie Phillips and Spanky McFarlane. Also notably appearing at some time had been Scott McKenzie —but none of the incarnations had the spirit and impact of the original group that John Phillips helped to build.
With the deaths of John Phillips, Cass Elliot, and Denny Doherty, Michelle Phillips is now the last surviving member of the original group.

Legacy

Albums

"Go Where You Wanna Go" - October 1965
"California Dreamin'" - November 1965 - US #4, UK #23 (re-charted in the UK at #9 in 1997)
"Monday, Monday" - March 1966 - US #1/3 wks., UK #3
"I Saw Her Again" - June 1966 - US #5, UK #11
"Look Through My Window" - September 1966 - US #24
"Words of Love" - November 1966 - US #5, UK #47 b/w "Dancing in the Street" - US #75
"Dedicated to the One I Love" - February 1967 - US #2, UK #2
"Creeque Alley" - April 1967 - US #5, UK #9
"Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon)" - August 1967 - US #20
"My Girl"- June 1967 US # 15
"Glad To Be Unhappy" - October 1967 - US #26
"Dancing Bear" - November 1967 - US #51
"Safe In My Garden" - May 1968 - US #53
"Dream a Little Dream of Me" (credited to "Mama Cass with The Mamas & The Papas") - June 1968 - US #12, UK #11
"For The Love Of Ivy" - July 1968 - US #81
"Do You Wanna Dance" - October 1968 - US #76
"Step Out" - January 1972 - US #81