LOS ANGELES, Aug 20 (Reuters) – Scott McKenzie, whose 1967
recording of “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your
Hair)” came to encapsulate the hippie movement, has died in Los
Angeles at the age of 73.
A message on his official website said McKenzie had been ill
with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a disease affecting the nervous
system, and died at home on Saturday.
“San Francisco,” written by the late John Phillips of
California band The Mamas and The Papas, became a worldwide hit
in 1967 and is credited with bringing thousands of young people
to the city in search of flower power and free love.
McKenzie said on the website that the song “was not so much
about the city itself, but about an idea. It was more about the
Monterey Pop Festival.”
The singer followed tens of thousands of young people by
dropping out of mainstream society in the late 1960s and moving
to Virginia for 10 years following his hit song.
In the 1980s and 1990s he joined The Mamas and the Papas and
toured with them until the group disbanded.
“Scott was in and out of hospital since 2010 after falling
ill with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a disease affecting the
nervous system,” his website said. “It is thought he may have
had a heart attack in early August 2012. Staff did not want him
to leave the hospital, but he wanted to be at home and passed
away on 18th August 2012.”
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and
Leslie Adler)
