Denny Doherty

Dennis Gerrard Stephen Doherty (November 29, 1940 – January 19, 2007) was a Canadian singer, songwriter and musician. A tenor, he was a founding member of the 1960s musical group the Mamas & the Papas for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Denny Doherty was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on November 29, 1940, the youngest of five children. He grew up in Halifax's North End in a devout Roman Catholic household. His father was a dockworker and Doherty has described his mother as "a housewife and mystic".

Doherty and three friends, Richard Sheehan, Eddie Thibodeau, and Mike O'Connell, began their musical career in 1956 with a band called the Hepsters. Two years later they disbanded. In 1960, still in Halifax, Doherty, aged 19, along with Pat LaCroix and Richard Byrne, began a folk group, called the Colonials.

Columbia Records signed the group several months later, at which time they changed their name to the Halifax III. The band recorded two LPs and had a minor hit titled "The Man Who Wouldn't Sing Along With Mitch", but broke up in 1965.

In 1963, Doherty established a friendship with Cass Elliot when she was with a band called the Big 3. While on tour with the Halifax III, Doherty met John Phillips and his wife, model Michelle Gilliam.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.