Michelle Phillips

Michelle Phillips (born June 4, 1944) is an American singer and actress. The blonde beauty was born Holly Michelle Gilliam in Long Beach, California. She gained fame as a member of the popular 1960s singing group The Mamas & the Papas.

Mama Michelle is sacked

Phillip's infidelity, ultimately, led to her being fired from The Mamas & the Papas in early June 1966. After Michelle started dating Gene Clark, a member of the rival band The Byrds, she was kicked out of the band and replaced by Lou Adler's girlfriend Jill Gibson. Fellow band member, Cass Elliot (the other Mama), was in love with Doherty, a fact Michelle was well aware of, so her earlier affair with Doherty in 1965, was a betrayal to half of the band. Michelle's presence in the band was missed by some fans, mostly by John, so she was invited back into the group in late August while Jill Gibson was given a lump sum for her two and a half months as a Mama. Gibson later would say that she felt betrayed by John, Cass, and Denny. The ill-will between the original members was so embedded, that the band continued to have problems even after Michelle's return. The Mamas and the Papas finally called it quits in July 1968.

Related Topics:
June - 1966 - Gene Clark - The Byrds - Lou Adler - Jill Gibson - Cass Elliot - August - July - 1968

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During 1970 Michelle sang backup vocals on a Leonard Cohen tour. That same year, Phillips married actor Dennis Hopper for eight days. Of that marriage, Phillips said: "I will say this about Dennis Hopper: We were married for eight days and truly... they were the happiest days of my life."

Related Topics:
1970 - Leonard Cohen - Actor - Dennis Hopper

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In 1973 Phillips recorded vocals as a cheerleader along with Darlene Love, for the Cheech & Chong single Basketball Jones which peaked at No.15 on the Billboard singles chart.

Related Topics:
1973 - Cheerleader - Darlene Love - Cheech & Chong - Billboard

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In 1977 Phillips released her debut solo album, Victim of Romance, produced by Jack Nitzsche for A&M Records. Her first two solo singles from the album failed to make the U.S. music charts. That same year she sang backup vocals with former stepdaughter actress Mackenzie Phillips on a track called Zulu Warrior, for her ex-husband John's sophomore solo album, Pay Pack & Follow, which was eventually realesed in 2001.

Related Topics:
1977 - Jack Nitzsche - A&M Records - Mackenzie Phillips - 2001

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Phillips married radio executive Robert Burch in 1978, and would divorce again, in 1980.

Related Topics:
1978 - 1980

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Michelle gave birth to her second child, a boy named Austin Haines, in 1982.

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In 1986 she penned her autobiography, Califorina Dreamin': The True Story of the Mamas and the Papas, released just weeks after her former husband John Phillip's autobiography Papa John. In it Phillips describes such events as the first meeting between her and fellow Mama, Cass Elliot (Phillips had just taken acid for the first time, and "came on" to it just as she opened the door), winning 17 straight shoots at a crap table in the Bahamas when the band was broke and couldn't afford plane fare back to the states (winning enough for first class, no less), and how her writing credit on the California Dreamin song, which still nets her royalties, was "the best wake-up call" she ever had (she was asleep on the tour bus and John Phillips woke her long enough for her to help him to complete the lyrics for the song).

Related Topics:
1986 - Cass Elliot - Bahamas

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In late 1987 Phillips sang backup vocals on Belinda Carlisle's number one hit, Heaven Is A Place On Earth, as well as on the Carlisle LP, Heaven On Earth.

Related Topics:
1987 - Belinda Carlisle

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