The Mamas and the Papas — Creeque Alley, New York City

The Mamas and the Papas — John Phillips, Denny Doherty, Cass Elliot, and Michelle Phillips — coalesced in New York City's folk and pop scene in 1965 before moving to Los Angeles, where they recorded the music that made them famous. Their background was rooted in the Greenwich Village folk scene and the Mugwumps (Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty's previous band, which also briefly included Zal Yanovsky and John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful). Their song "Creeque Alley" (1967) is a detailed, funny autobiographical account of the whole period — the Village days, the Virgin Islands interlude where the group's sound crystallised, and the move to California.

The group's recordings for Dunhill Records in 1966 and 1967 — "California Dreamin'," "Monday, Monday," "Dedicated to the One I Love," "Dream a Little Dream of Me" — were built on extraordinarily intricate four-part vocal harmonies and an orchestrated pop production that was simultaneously sophisticated and emotionally direct. John Phillips also organised the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, one of the defining cultural events of the era. The group dissolved in 1968 amid personal conflicts and drug use.

Cass Elliot — Mama Cass — died on July 29, 1974, in the London flat of Harry Nilsson from heart failure, aged 32. The persistent myth that she choked on a ham sandwich was a fabrication; the coroner's report was clear. She is buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Los Angeles. John Phillips died in 2001. Michelle Phillips and Denny Doherty both survived into the 2000s. Their recordings remain among the most immediately pleasurable of the 1960s pop era.