Singer/songwriter Denny Doherty found his greatest fame as part of the '60s-born folk and sunshine pop group known as the Mamas & the Papas, with longtime popular songs "California Dreamin'," &"Monday, Monday," "Dream a Little Dream of Me," and "Dedicated to the One I Love." Other members of the group were John Phillips, Cass Elliott, and Michelle Phillips. Those hits aside, Doherty did have a life before and after the Mamas & the Papas.

Doherty was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, in the winter of 1940. While still in his teens, he became part of his first folk act, the Colonials. The group made a name change to the Halifax Three, since it was a trio from Halifax, and signed a record deal in the United States. Doherty's next endeavor was as part of the Big Three, where he worked for the first time with Cass Elliot. When nothing much came of the group's musical efforts, Elliot and Doherty moved on to greener pastures in 1965, which just happen to be the Mamas & the Papas. The foursome earned a pile of hits over the next four years, before calling it quits in 1969. By that time folk and sunshine pop was making way for disco.