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Cass Elliot Biography |
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image:mamas and papas.jpg, Cass Elliot, and John Phillips (musician) and Michelle Phillips.
"Mama" Cass Elliot, (September 19, 1941 – July 29, 1974), born Ellen Naomi Cohen, was a noted United States singer who performed with The Mamas & The Papas. She then went onto a successful solo career, releasing nine albums. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Maryland, she spent most of her childhood both in Baltimore and Alexandria, Virginia, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C..
Elliot, known for her sense of humor and optimism, was considered by some to be the most charismatic member of The Mamas & The Papas; her warm, distinctive voice was a large factor in their success. She is best remembered for her vocals on the group's Billboard magazine hits California Dreamin', Monday Monday, and Words of Love, as well as her first hit as an independent act, Dream a Little Dream of Me. Cass was in love with fellow Mamas & Papas band member Denny Doherty. His affair with another married band member, Michelle Phillips, was one of the causes of the break-up of the band. Elliot resented Michelle's perceived betrayal of their friendship and helped to support the band's decision to fire Michelle in June 1966, when it became clear that John Phillips (musician) could no longer work with her. Personal problems within the group and Elliot's desire to go solo led to their dissolution in July 1968. Cass gave birth to a daughter named Owen Vanessa Elliot on April 26, 1967 without naming the father. In August 1968, Abigail Folger and Wojciech Frykowski moved across the street from Cass, and they quickly befriended her. Solo career and family After the breakup of The Mamas & The Papas, Elliot went on to have a successful solo career. Her most successful recording during this period was 1968's Dream a Little Dream of Me from her solo album of the same name, released by Dunhill Records, though it had originally been recorded for and released on the album The Papas & The Mamas Presented By The Mamas and The Papas earlier that year. She headlined briefly in Las Vegas for the whopping contract of United States dollar40,000 per week. She was a regular on TV talk shows and variety shows in the 1970s including The Julie Andrews Hour and The Carol Burnett Show. She also made a memorable guest-star appearance on The New Scooby-Doo Movies. At the height of her career in 1974, having just finished performing at the London Palladium theatre, she died of a myocardial infarction. The coroner surmised her heart had weakened to the point of failure owing to Elliot's weight and the effects of several crash diets over the years. She died in the same bed, in the same room – albeit four years earlier – as manic drummer of The Who, Keith Moon, in an apartment owned by singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson. Following the loss of a second friend, Keith Moon, in the building, a distraught Nilsson could not face returning there and subsequently sold the flat to Pete Townshend. Elliot was married twice. In 1963 she married then-bandmate James Hendricks; they divorced in 1968. In 1971 she married Baron Donald von Wiedenman, a journalist. Cass's sister, Leah Kunkel, is also a singer and charted in 1984 as a member of the Coyote Sisters on the single "Straight From The Heart (Into Your Life)." Kunkel was interviewed by VH1 in 1997 and discussed her more famous sister for the "Mamas & Papas" episode of the network's documentary series Behind The Music. Cass's daughter, Owen Vanessa Elliot, is a singer as well, and in the late 1980s, her idea of recording an anti-drug song using the offspring of 1960s rock stars led to the formation of the vocal group that would be known as Wilson Phillips. Owen was to have been part of the group herself, but was asked to leave because her voice didn't blend well with the others' voices. Myths An urban legend holds that Elliot died choking on a ham sandwich. This is incorrect. Shortly after her death, but before her autopsy, The Times published an article that quoted her doctor as speculating that she "probably... died as a result of choking on a sandwich while lying in bed". However, later that week the coroner found no food in her trachea and determined that the cause of death was Myocardial infarction. Nevertheless, the rumor spread, with the popular imagination embellishing that it was a ham sandwich (possibly based on an association with ham, pigs, and her obesity). Another version of the story holds that the doctor found a sandwich or partially eaten sandwich in her room, causing him to speculate about the cause of death. This urban legend led to the joke that "if Mama Cass had given Karen Carpenter the ham sandwich, they'd both be alive today". Another popular myth about Elliot is that her vocal range was improved after she was hit on the head by copper tubing shortly before joining the band. Elliot had been dogging her friend and former bandmate Denny Doherty to let her join the band. The myth purports that while Cass and the band members were in the Virgin Islands, copper tubing fell on her head and miraculously changed her voice. The myth was started by band member John Phillips as a justification for letting her into the band after initially refusing to allow her to join. He repeats the story himself on the PBS special California Dreamin': The Songs of the Mamas and the Papas, insisting it is true. Casey Kasem repeated the story during his show. Elliot herself lends validation to the story, however, so it may not be false. From an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 1968, Elliot was asked, "Is that a true story about a pipe falling on your head…" Elliot responded: The E! True Hollywood Story biography about Elliot reports (and revives) the completely unfounded and baseless rumor that singer-songwriter John Lennon of The Beatles may have been the father of Elliot's daughter, Owen. This rumor most likely originated from Cass's obsession with the Beatles. Many years after Cass's death, bandmate Michelle Phillips helped Owen find her real biological father. 
Courtesy of: http://www.wikipedia.org/ |
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