Chip Douglas

Douglas Farthing Hatfield, better known as Chip Douglas, was one of the more ubiquitous figures on the folk-rock and pop/rock scenes of the middle/late '60s. He entered music professionally in the early '60s in Honolulu, HI, where he was leading his own folk trio. Eventually, he found himself working with Henry Diltz and Stan White, and they were joined by Cyrus Faryar, late of the Whiskeyhill Singers. White eventually exited over personal and psychological problems, and was succeeded by Jerry Yester, and he joined Douglas as one of the group's two principal arrangers. The Modern Folk Quartet ran its course across a little more than two years, in which they made records in association with such varied figures as Jim Dickson and Phil Spector, and always seemed to be just outside the spotlight. Their lineup splintered after 1966, and Douglas joined the Turtles as their bassist, succeeding Chuck Portz. He made his debut with the group on "Happy Together," which was recorded using Douglas' arrangement and hit the number one chart position in late 1966. Meanwhile, corporate music events going on elsewhere were finally working in Douglas' favor -- a group called the Monkees, which had been conceived purely as a television creation for the NBC series of which they were a part, proved to have more interest in music and their own credibility than the show's producers and music directors had reckoned with; and at least three of the four members, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Micky Dolenz, also had enough knowledge of the West Coast music scene to actually do something about it. Nesmith reportedly saw the Turtles playing at the Whiskey a Go Go in Hollywood and approached Douglas about being their producer. The group had been infuriated by the assembly and release of More of...