Papa John: An Autobiography by John Phillips

by John Phillips, Jim Jerome

Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. It was the anthem of the sixties. The psychedelic code by which many lived--and died. And John Phillips, legendary founder and songwriter of the Mamas and the Papas, experienced it all. Now Phillips takes us on a dizzying roller-coaster ride from stardom in L.A. to drug busts in the Big Apple. In an intimate, gritty, all-too-true self-portrait, he offers a startling, reflective look at the turbulent sixties and beyond.
From a nightmarish, yet oddly tender childhood through a disastrous military school education in Virginia, John Edmund Andrew Phillips found music the only outlet for his brilliant, restless energy. He developed a personal sound after a rumbling journey through the clubs and honky-tonks of Greenwich Village, the Virgin Islands, Los Angeles, and the segregated South. He began to form the groups that soon brought him into the national spotlight: first the Smoothies, then the Journeyman, and finally the phenomenally successful the Mamas and the Papas. And as the hits rolled in for Papa John-- "Creeque Alley," "Monday, Monday," "California Dreamin'," "Go Where You Wanna Go," "Words of Love" --so did fame and wealth. He paid cash for a fabulous mansion in Los Angeles. He was instrumental in staging the historic Monterrey Pop Festival, where Janis Joplin debuted and Jimi Hendrix memorably lit his guitar on fire. And he immersed himself in a bizarre world of dope, parties, and parasitic hangers-on that rapidly took over his life.
Throughout the seventies and into the eighties, Phillips spent over a million dollars on drugs, his imposing six-foot-four-inch frame turning specter like as his weight dropped to 140 pounds. Drifting from his family and dropping out of society, he ended up--busted, broke, and burned out--in a New York City slammer.
But though the songs no longer came easy for Papa John Phillips, the music was far from over. And with a supporting cast of superstars that includes Princess Margaret, Mick Jagger, Warren Beatty, Roman Polanski, Elvis Presley, Mia Farrow, and the Beatles, PAPA JOHN tells a fascinating saga of one remarkable and troubled man who, after everything else is a survivor.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography, Biography Memoir, Memoir, Drugs

444 pages, Hardcover

First published April 16, 1986

About the author

John Phillips, born John Edmund Andrew Phillips, was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. Known as Papa John, Phillips was a member and leader of the singing group The Mamas & the Papas. He is the husband of band mate Michelle Phillips and the father of Jeffrey Phillips, Mackenzie Phillips, Chynna Phillips, Tamerlane Phillips, and Bijou Phillips.

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is always a dark presence or cloud in one's area of interest. I love rock n' roll. In fact, I love music. And I love reading musician's memoirs. At the best, they are brilliant with strong characteristic qualities - Jah Wobble, Ray Davies, Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Viv Albertine, Oscar Levant, and numerous jazz memoirs. The weak one's are usually written for money - well, more likely all for money, but still, the character comes through and makes it a fascinating read. Unfortunately, John Phillips of the Mamas and Papas has no strong character. Son of a failed military man, he is a figure who basically had one service - and was to service himself. There are charming characters - such as Errol Flynn and others of that particular character, that can only do bad, yet, somehow become charming even after their questionable deeds and actions. Phillips, on the other hand, lacks charm. And his memoir "Papa John" is the king of the charmless autobiographies. He had sex, he did drugs, he wrote happy/sad music, he had more sex, more drugs, hung out with famous (and more talented than him) people, did drugs with them, did drugs with his children, had sex with friends, other's wives, sex with wife, sex, and then more drugs. He became addicted. A little bit more sex, but mostly now drugs. By the time I finished this book, I loathe him. Still, at times, it was a hard book to put down. But then again, I'm sort of the guy who can probably watch a slow-motion car accident - and then hating myself for doing so. I don't hate myself for reading this book, but as I read, I had one eye on the page of this book, and a wandering eye on the pile of books I want to read. It kept my hope up.

[Kelly Paprocki · Rating 1 out of 5]

you can take the drugs out of an asshole but you still are left with an asshole.
name dropping and chemical popping, that's all it offers, besides what a complete 'head up my ass' kind of guy he was. i feel sorry for anyone that had to be involved with this waste, especially his children.
disgusting.

and, yes, i love the music.

[Katherine Basto · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a juicy sordid read! Papa John Phillips, the brains behind the Mamas and the Papas takes the reader through his life, beginning with his origins. His humble start begins in Alexandria, Virginia born to a French Canadian Marine and a Cherokee squaw from Oklahoma. Claude his father becomes an alcoholic who prefers the company of his dogs and bourbon in the basement to being the father his family needed.
After successes with the folk industry, John starts the Journeymen and thus begins his musical career. He decides like many people at this time to head west.
Here he meets the ultimate "California Girl" Holly Michelle Gilliam who was a mere 16 at the time.(John later married her and she became Mama Michelle) But wait, John was already married and had two children, Laura Mackenzie Phillips and Jeff) But this didn't stop John and Michelle from doing their thing. Eventually, he left his first wife and children for teenage Michelle, literally one of the most beautiful women on the planet.
The reader is introduced to Cass and Denny and how they formed the Mamas and the Papas. The trials, trevails, the jealousies, the lust all come into play. It appears during his time with the group, Papa John could do what he pleased but when Michelle fell for Denny, the tenor of the band, Papa John could only see green. Rules were always meant to be broken by John.
Thus begins the rise and fall of Papa John. The house in Bel Air that hosted parties with Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty and how Papa John was invited to a house for a party by Sharon Tate, the night she and others were murdered by the Manson Clan. His friendship with Rolling Stones Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are laid out in specific details.
This is a long, juicy read that paints a picture of the times...leaving the staid and conservative '50s for the wild love fest of the 60s only to come crashing down in the 70s. And crash Papa John does. Ultimately, he may have been his own worst enemy, a genius at best, a stubborn,willful drug addict at worst.
Perhaps if Papa John had delved into the torments of his past, worked on his family issues he may have seen the light. Conveniently, he ignored his family and children when it suited him. He truly had a disconnect between parental duties and having to be the center of attention.
A lothario he truly was and much is given in detail. A snapshot of both California and New York at a volatile moment in history brings to life the times. Highly recommended!

[Hilary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't decide how I feel about this book. I couldn't put it down, but since I read Makenzie Phillip's book first - I think that Papa John was lying in quite a bit of his book. Maybe lying isn't the right word, but omitting certain facts that Makenzie stated. I don't know why I believe her over him, but I do.

That being said whenever he said he went into recovery/treatment/or getting clean in the book, he always glossed over it. Or said they were sweaty, etc. He never said how detoxing from heroin or massive amount of coke and pain pills actually is. I also don't think it is possible after almost 15 years of a massive addiction to pain pills, shooting coke and heroin, to get clean on your own, like him and Gen did so many times.

I couldn't put it down because I happen to love autobiographies/biographies ESPECIALLY when they are about rock stars. Even if that rock star is a weird Folkie rock star. The craziness is beyond. I think I just had to take it with a grain of salt.

I am going to read Keith Richard's book soon and I have a feeling it is going to WAY better.

1.5 out of 5 stars.

[D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another in my long line of "rock and roll" books. (This one was better than the Joan Baez one, but not as good as the Janis Ian one, for the record.) John Phillips doesn't pull any punches about all the bad choices he's made in his life, and he's made some doozies. From his troubled upbringing to his arrest for trafficking drugs in the mid-1980's, this is John's story, at least as much as he wants to tell you. I got the feeling at times that he was "stretching the truth," and embellishing things to make himself look better, or at the very least to make a good story. And parts of it are very good. It's just that parts of it aren't. Okay, that's not quite fair. It's just that the first 1/3 is QUITE good, as he fills us in on all of his upbringing and the events leading to the demise of The Mamas and The Papas. From there, though, it veers into lots of sordid tales of affairs, drugs, bad decisions, and it all kind of blends together. You get the feeling that John never really cared WHO he hurt, as long as he got what he wanted, or as long as he got to be the guy with the prettiest girl and the most drugs.

Hmmm. But how is it? It's worth reading, just to see how much he screwed up his life and the lives of those around him. I'd be interested to read the accounts of others that were there, and see how much their versions of events linked up with John's.

Next, I'll probably read Keith Richards's autobiography, since it will have a large section that overlaps with this one. Or, I suppose I could read Mackenzie Phillips' book, since there's clearly some overlap there, too.

[Carol Storm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book about fifteen years ago and I didn't think much of it, just because I wasn't much of a Mamas and Papas fan. Looking back, however, it was really amazing. Not only is John Phillips totally honest about the way drugs took over his life (you'll be amazed in medical terms at what the human body can stand) but he's incredibly insightful about his dysfunctional family, his father's alcoholism, and the way addiction can be passed down from generation to generation. And he's also really generous in his praise for other folk singer of the day, for Mama Cass, and of course, for Michelle Phillips, his partner and the mother of his children.

This book is really a classic, but I didn't appreciate it till I read It's So Easy by Duff McKagan. So which is better, a classic memoir by a guy in a fifth rate band, or a watered down sanitized memoir by a guy in the last truly great rock and roll band in history?

[Janski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had not been a huge fan of the Mamas and Papas, although I liked their music well-enough. The book is interesting for all the information on the time and the group. Like another reviewer said, the man was an a**hole, but the book is fascinating. I read the book about twenty years ago and have recently read MacKenzie Phillips' story, which I thought was honest and brave.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a detailed, sordid, and lengthy survey of Phillips' rise with The Mamas and The Papas and descent into drug addiction. Phillips does very little to defend his actions from "fag rolling" (blackmail for queerbashing) as a juvenile to cheating on his pregnant wives including talking one into an illegal abortion where the he believed the feared molestation by the doctor occured. Of interest for music history, we hear the times and contexts for writing "Kokomo", "Go Where You Wanna Go", "California Dreamin'", "Monday, Monday", "I Saw Her Again", "Words of Love", "Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)", and more. Phillips says Mama Cass died of an over-worked heart and no drugs or lunches were involved while his own drug habit quashed his food and sex appetite while developing into a trafficking operation brought down by the feds.

John's career and live seems to parallel the major arc of history there: early 60s folk revival that was progressive socially even if it didn't want to be, The Summer of Love and the Monterey Pop Festival of 1967 that Phillips was behind as a give-back event, the violent and dispiriting summer of '68 as love began to fade into the lethal '69 including the Manson murders where Phillips claims to have been invited to the Tate house that fateful night and through Cass Elliot knew of Wojtek Frykowski as one of her druggie hangers-on and drug running diplomat boyfriend (unnamed) Pic Dawson. Phillips does drop a lot of names, including doing drugs with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and others beyond the usual suspects on the rock scene. '71 brought the drug-related deaths of Jim, Jimi, and Janis and Phillips was one that continued on with the drugs and, in his words, would have been a casualty had he not been arrested.

One memorable trivium: John's father's deathbed advice was to wash your pits with shampoo, not bar soap.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before the DIRT - there was PAPA JOHN. basically the 60's and early 70's version of a man who had nothing, wrote some songs, got everything, and than procedded to drink, drug, schtup it away. also, wierdly started the whole 'confessional' celebrity culture by appearin on Oprah with his daughter to confess his addictions/sins.

[Nathaniel Fregoso · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best rock autobiography I have ever read. Papa John invented the outdoor rock festival, wrote the anthem for the Summer of Love, barely missed being slaughtered by Charles Manson and ran a massive drug ring! That's just the beginning! Truly the blueprint to a wreckless/fulfilling life in the music industry.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

self indulgent. I'm currently at the tail end of an obsession with his album wolf king of LA but he barely mentions it in this book. Never cared that much about the mamas and papas. Pretty entertaining but also annoying in his druggy self-justification.

[Kelley Nance · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book seriously disturbed me (and I read this AFTER reading Mackenzie's book)!

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

John Philips was responsible for some great music, not least The Mamas and The Papas. He was also pivotal in the stageing of Monteray Pop and also wrote some of the best songs of the 60's. I could go on. Anyway for years I looked forward to reading this book and when I eventually got round to it I felt cheated. Time spent that I will never get back. What a drag this guy is, I found nothing I liked about him and he elicited no sympathy from me. A self serving man with no charm, another example of someone who didn't live up to the message he put forth in his music. This is just another tale of Rock & Roll debauchery, a Rock & Roll cliche. He is a self serving satyr with no consideration for others, no suprise then that he was friends with Mick Jagger. And when the heat was on he couldn't do his time and turned on those who once served him. All in all a reprehesible human being not worth the time. He has shamed the music world and his family. Enough said.

[Noel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whether or not you appreciate John Phillips music (writer and member of the Mamas & Papas plus solo projects) it is definitely an interesting account of an era in time and is great for learning lessons about excess. Very easy read too as it is an autobiography written by a dude that did more acid than anyone I've ever heard of. Decently written. My expectations were not very high and I was pleasantly surprised.

[Carey Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, John Phillips gets the worst father of the century award. Introducing his kids to drugs at such a young age is the worst thing besides being a molester. The later he is not. Thanks to God for that. He writes about the band (Mamma's & Pappa's) and other musicians he hangs with and he hangs with some very famous people. That part is so interesting. The problem is that he is a dope fiend and will do anything to party. This is a worth while book to read. It is un-put-downable.

[Jeff Wombold · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting story about the life and times of John Phillips. I was amazed by how much of what he was given and achieved was wasted away by his abuse of drugs and alcohol. He was such a musical genius; I like to imagine what he could've achieved if he had stayed straight. He did not have the best of life growing up and I would guess that had much to do with it; I was glad to see he finally straightened his life up.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Turns out all the stuff in those songs were true, still who would have thought that Papa John would become one hell of a 70’s junkie. It certainly was a wild ride, and the book captures that quite well. Even reaching back to the pre-Elvis and pre- Beatles era, abortion era 50’s and early 60’s culture. Not as bleak as Chuck Negron’s or Jimmy Greenspoon’s tales of addiction…but an engrossingly good story- even if much of them seem like PG versions of the events.

[Vikki · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an autobiography of John Phillips. I always loved the Mamas and the Papas. My they were wild! This was written in 1986 so it doesn't tell of his liver transplant and last ten years. They were so wild and horribly into drugs. He was shooting up every ten minutes in the 80s. The drugs had control. I learned a lot. Pretty depressing book, actually.

[Jeff Gramm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man, did I love The Mamas and the Papas when I was in high school (late 1980s)

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. I read this when I was really into 60s music. The part about Monterey Pop is especially interesting.

[Arlene Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

His version of the story.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

How this man lived as long as he did is a wonder

[S.J. Tyson · Rating 4 out of 5]

To quote the Grateful Dead...what a long strange trip it's been. And then some. Papa John: An Autobiography (of the Mamas and the Papas): A Music Legend's Shattering Journey Through Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll, the autobiography of musician John Phillips, is just that. Be warned, this life story is not for the faint of heart. Parts of the book, particularly descriptions during his copious periods of drug use, are extremely graphic. And if you were looking for a sympathetic personality, you certainly won't find that here. Phillips is unfaithful in all his relationship, an absentee father, and an extreme abuser of drugs and alcohol. His unsettling childhood probably should make his transition to a seriously flawed adult more tolerable, but it just doesn't. He's that screwed up. The book does, however, give a thorough, gritty, graphic, and sometimes unbelievable rise and fall of the life and career of John Phillips, including his time with The Mamas and the Papas, as well as an inside look at the chaotic music scene of the 1960s and 1970s. At well over 400 pages, the book probably could have been a little shorter and still got his point across. But you have to give him points for being so forthcoming in his descriptions of some pretty disturbing times in his private life. His candor provides for a compelling and raw story about the man and his music.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d like to give the book one star as I think this is a despicable man. He acts quite entitled in every way! Knowing the back story from his daughter’s book “High on Arrival”, I find it odd that he never even references anything about their “special bond”. He can recall and does,
ad nauseam, how many of this and that pill he took and how much of each drug he mixes and the level of detail is ridiculous. That’s so important you had to put it in a book? This book could have been half the length if he didn’t have to describe every high he ever had. Ridiculous. But yes, I read the whole thing and gave it a 3 because it’s a great glimpse into this rock and roll world, the era of the 60’s, 70’s, the people, the clothes, the houses, money earned and lost. That part is super interesting. But if you read this, you should also read Mackenzie Phillips’ book, as she was an innocent victim of his horrid lifestyle.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and it's a little funny because John Phillips comes off as kind of a sleazeball. Not because of the drugs but because, from the get-go, he seemed to thrive on being a fuck-up. The man seemed to have no real morals. That said, he must have been an extremely charismatic person to have gotten away with so much shit for such a long time. And it made for a fantastic book--hearing about all the people he interacted with, the origins of the Monterrey Pop Festival, and, of course, the various ways he fucked up. There were some phenomenal stories in PAPA JOHN--totally kept me engaged and reading.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad autobiography, but flawed in so many other ways. Phillips' memoir reads well in the historic segments, but you also get an interminable account of his wild teenage years in the Fifties, which doesn't have any relevance to his life later on. He also mentions a lot of embarrassing things most people would leave out, like a childish shoving match against director Nicolas Roeg.

He also tries to go for high comedy no matter how serious or traumatic the situation. In short, this was a memoir written by a narcissistic man who couldn't meet the severity of his problems head on, so everything is reduced to slapstick humor.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s impossible to put into words just how big of an asshole John Phillips is.

But is the book good? It’s only value is that delves deep into the psyche of a sociopath. And he’s a sociopath. He even admits it on the past page. I assume most of this book is false — either distorted to make him look less like an asshole or just plain fabrications. I also question dialogue that he reports that he wasn’t in the room for.

Mackenzie’s claim of incest is completely viable in case you needed anything beyond her word.

So is it a good book? It is not.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for some 60's nostalgia. And 70's.

[Olav Nilsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sex, Drugs & Rock’n Roll…