On 29 July 1974 the American pop
singer Cass "Mama" Elliott died of a heart attack in London at
the age of 32. Miss Elliott who became famous with "The Mamas &
the Papas", became ill suddenly in her flat at 9 Curzon Place,
Shepherd Market, Mayfair, after performing two weeks of sold-out
concerts at the London Palladium.
Cass Elliot was born as Ellen Naomi
Cohen in Baltimore on 19 February 1941. By the age of 17 she had
started acting, and assumed the name Cass Elliot. Her father Philip
Cohen, a restaurateur, had nicknamed her Cass. Elliot, she said later
in an interview, was in honour of a friend killed in a car accident.
The Cohens moved to Alexandria, Virginia, Washington, D.C. While
still attending George Washington High School, she was cast in a
school production of the play "The Boy Friend". She left high
school shortly before graduation and moved to New York City to
further her acting career.
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| Cass Elliot, Barry Levinson High School Yearbook Photo (1960) |
She moved to Greenwich Village in New
York at the age of 19 and appeared in a number of Off-Broadway
productions. She also began to perform as a folk singer the New York
folk scene. Elliot met the singers Tim Rose and John Brown, and the
three began performing as "The Triumvirate". In 1963, James
Hendricks, her first husband, replaced John Brown and the trio was
renamed "The Big 3". When Tim Rose left The Big 3 in 1964, Elliot
and Hendricks formed with the Canadians Zal Yanovsky and, future
Papa, Denny Doherty "The Mugwumps".
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| The Big 3: Tim Rose, Cass Elliot and James Hendricks |
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| The Mugwumps: Zal Yanovsky, James Hendricks, Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty |
This group split after only eight
months and Cass performed as a solo act for a while. In the meantime
Doherty joined “The New Journeymen”, a group including John
Phillips and his wife, Michelle. In 1965, Doherty convinced Phillips
that Elliot should join the group. It was Cass who came up with the
idea of renaming the group “The Mamas & the Papas”.
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| The Mamas & the Papas: John Phillips, Michelle Phillips, Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty |
Elliot's powerful, distinctive voice
was a large factor in the success of the group. She is best
remembered for her vocals on the hits "California Dreamin',"
"Monday Monday," and "Words of Love" and the
solo "Dream a Little Dream of Me". After the breakup of
“The Mamas & the Papas” in 1971, Elliot started a solo
career.
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| Tom Jones and Cass Elliot in "This is Tom Jones" (abc, 1969) |
On 26 April 1967 Elliot gave birth to
her daughter, Owen Vanessa Elliot. She never publicly identified the
father. In 1968 Elliot divorced James Hendricks and in 1971 she
married Baron Donald von Wiedenman, a German nobleman. Their marriage
ended in divorce after a few months.
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| Cass Elliot with daughter Owen Vanessa Elliot (1967) |
Elliot Cass was cremated at the
Hollywood Memorial Park, and is now buried in Mount Sinai Memorial
Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
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| Michelle Phillips and John Phillips at Cass Elliot's funeral in 1974 |
Cass Elliot: Dream a little dream of me
The Mamas & The Papas: California Dreaming
The Mamas & The Papas: Monday Monday
