Later, with Phillips, Mike Boran and Bill Cleary, he formed the
doo wop band The Abstracts. In
New York City, The Abstracts became The Smoothies and recorded two singles with
Decca Records, produced by
Milt Gabler. During his time with The Smoothies, Blondheim decided to change his name for business reasons: :"[We] were working at one of the last great night clubs, The Elmwood Casino in
Windsor, Ontario. We were part of a variety show ... three acts, dancing girls, and the entire cast took part in elaborate, choreographed stage productions ... As you might imagine, after-show parties were common. : :"At one of these parties I complained that nobody could understand my real name ... [and] pointed out that this was a definite liability in a profession that benefited from instant name recognition. Everyone started trying to come up with a new name for me. It was [comedian] Jackie Curtis who said he thought I looked like a Scottie dog. Phillips came up with Laura's middle name after Jackie's suggestion. I didn't like being called 'Scottie' so everybody agreed my new name could be 'Scott McKenzie'." : In 1961, Phillips and McKenzie met
Dick Weissman and formed the folk group
The Journeymen at the height of the folk music craze. They recorded three albums and seven singles for
Capitol Records. After
The Beatles became popular in 1964, The Journeymen disbanded. Two years later, he left New York and signed with
Lou Adler's Ode Records.
"San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)" John Phillips wrote and co-produced "
San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" for McKenzie. Phillips played guitar on the recording, and session musician Gary L. Coleman played orchestra bells and chimes. The bass line of the song was supplied by session musician
Joe Osborn.
Hal Blaine played drums. It was released on May 13, 1967, in the United States and was an instant hit, reaching number 4 on the
Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 in the Canadian
RPM Magazine charts. It was also a number 1 in the UK and several other countries, selling over 7 million copies globally. McKenzie released the single "Like an Old Time Movie", which Phillips wrote, composed, and produced, and which was a top-40 hit (number 24 on Billboard; number 27 in Canada). His first album,
The Voice of Scott McKenzie, was followed with an album titled
Stained Glass Morning. He stopped recording in the early 1970s, living in Joshua Tree, California, and Virginia Beach, Virginia. In 1986, he started singing with a new version of The Mamas and the Papas. With John Phillips, he co-wrote "
Kokomo" (with small contributions from
Terry Melcher &
Mike Love) (1988), a number 1 single for
The Beach Boys. By 1998, he had retired from the road version of The Mamas and the Papas, and resided in Los Angeles until his death. ==Illness and Death==