Scott McKenzie was born Philip Wallach Blondheim III in 1939 in Jacksonville,
Florida. He was moved to Asheville, North Carolina, at six months and grew up
there and in Virginia. It was in Virginia that he began one of the most
important relationships of his life - his friendship with John Phillips. During
high school the pair played with Tim Rose in a group called The Singing Strings
then later with Mike Boran and Bill Cleary in a doo-wop band called The
Abstracts.
The Abstracts evolved into The Smoothies and, following a move to New York,
recorded a couple of singles with ...