Scott McKenzie was the perfect example of a one-hit wonder, although his talent and voice made him worthy of (and ultimately did earn him) somewhat more. Born Philip Wallach Blondheim in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1939, he was raised in Virginia, and was drawn to music and singing from an early age. Among the friends and acquaintances of his youth was John Phillips, who -- in addition to being a rebel from the military family in which he grew up in Alexandria, Virginia -- was also pulled toward music. The two ended up together in a late-'50s folk-influenced vocal group called the Smoothies, whose harmony-singing owed a lot to the Four Freshmen, and who enjoyed one minor hit (authored by Phillips) entitled "Softly," on the Decca label. His stage name came about from an incident while performing with the Smoothies in Ontario, as he related in a 1991 interview with Spencer Leigh. They were on a bill with a pair of comedians, and the latter suggested -- perhaps picking up on one corner of his Anglo-Scottish ancestry -- that Blondheim resembled a Scottie dog, and started calling him Scott. Phillips added the "McKenzie" from the name he'd given to his daughter MacKenzie (born 1959) -- the two names seemed to fit together.