John Phillips may easily be called one of the best pop songwriters of the later 20th century. He honed his songwriting and arranging skills with singing groups that gained a modicum of success. But his crowning musical achievement was the work he did with his '60s group the Mamas and the Papas. Their popularity helped to stem the tide of the "British Invasion" of the 1960s, and bring attention back to American popular music. After a stunningly successful three-year run, the band collapsed under the weight of personal tensions, and seemingly so did Phillips. His later challenges involved battling years of substance addiction and recovering his health and creativity. John Edmund Andrew Phillips was born on August 30, 1935 on Parris Island, SC. He was the son of a career military man, and a homemaker. Phillips' upbringing was troubling and often lonely. Phillips formed several bands while in high school, in Alexandria, VA, and again, after he returned home from an abortive try at college life. He had a minor hit, "Softly," in the late '50s with his group, the Smoothies. Phillips had arranged his songs with Four Freshmen style harmonies, to sing with friends Phil Blondheim (who later changed his name to Scott McKenzie), Bill Cleary, and Mike Boran. In the early '60s, Phillips formed a folk group called the Journeymen with McKenzie, and talented banjo player Dick Weissman. The Journeymen fared well, touring extensively on the folk club and college circuit. The stress of touring strained his first marriage to socialite Susan Adams, mother of his two eldest children, Jeffrey and Laura MacKenzie