“Mama” Cass Elliot

from quotefancy

Ellen Naomi Cohen (b. 9/19/41) was known professionally as Cass Elliot and was an American singer. She was also known as “Mama Cass,” but she reportedly hated the name. She was a member of the singing group the Mamas & the Papas. After the group broke up, Elliot released five solo albums. She received the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary (R&R) Performance for “Monday, Monday” (1967.) In 1998, she was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her work with the Mamas & the Papas.

Early Life:

Cass was born in Baltimore, Maryland and was the daughter of Philip (d. 1962) and Bess Cohen (née Levine; 1915–1994.) All four of her grandparents were Russian-Jewish immigrants. Her family was subject to significant financial stresses and uncertainties during her childhood years. Her father, involved in several business ventures, ultimately succeeded through the development of a lunch wagon in Baltimore that provided meals to construction workers. Her mother was a trained nurse. Elliot had a brother, Joseph, and a younger sister, Leah, who also became a singer and recording artist. Cass’ early life was spent with her family in Alexandria, VA. The family moved to Baltimore when Elliot was 15, where they had briefly lived at the time of Elliot’s birth.

Elliot adopted the name “Cass” in high school. She assumed the surname “Elliot” some time later, in memory of a friend who had died. While in Alexandria, she attended George Washington High School. When Elliot’s family returned to Baltimore, she attended Forest Park High School. While there, she became interested in acting. She won a small part in the play The Boy Friend, a summer stock production in Owings Mills, Maryland in 1959 under the name Ellen Cohen. She left high school shortly before graduation and moved to NYC to further her acting career (as recounted in the lyrics to “Creeque Alley“).

Musical Beginnings:

After leaving high school to pursue an entertainment career in NY, Elliot toured in the musical The Music Man in 1962 under the name Cass Elliot. She sometimes sang while working as a cloakroom attendant at The Showplace in Greenwich Village, but she did not pursue a singing career until she moved to the Washington, DC area to attend American University.

America’s folk music scene was on the rise when Elliot met banjoist and singer Tim Rose and singer John Brown, and the three began performing as the Triumvirate. In 1963, James Hendricks replaced Brown, and the trio was renamed the Big 3. Elliot’s first recording with the Big 3 was “Winken, Blinken, and Nod“, released by FM Records in 1963. In 1964, the group appeared on an “open mic” night at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village, billed as Cass Elliot and the Big 3, followed onstage by folk singer Jim Fosso and bluegrass banjoist Eric Weissberg.

Tim Rose left the Big 3 in 1964, and Elliot and Hendricks teamed with Canadians Zal Yanovsky and Denny Doherty to form the Mugwumps. This group lasted eight months, after which Cass performed as a solo act for a while. In the meantime, Yanovsky and John Sebastian co-founded the Lovin’ Spoonful, while Doherty joined the New Journeymen, a group that also included John Phillips and his wife Michelle. In 1965, Doherty persuaded Phillips that Elliot should join the group, which she did while the group members and she were vacationing in the Virgin Islands.

A popular legend about Elliot is that her vocal range was improved by three notes after she was hit on the head by some copper tubing while walking through a construction site behind the bar where the New Journeymen were playing in the Virgin Islands. Elliot confirmed the story in a 1968 interview with Rolling Stone, saying:

It’s true, I did get hit on the head by a pipe that fell down and my range was increased by three notes. They were tearing this club apart in the islands, revamping it, putting in a dance floor. Workmen dropped a thin metal plumbing pipe and it hit me on the head and knocked me to the ground. I had a concussion and went to the hospital. I had a bad headache for about two weeks and all of a sudden I was singing higher. It’s true. Honest to God.

 

Denny Doherty (2^nd Papa) shares an anecdote on how The Mamas & Papas got their name:

“We’re all just lying around vegging out watching TV and discussing names for the group. The New Journeymen was not a handle that was going to hang on this outfit. John was pushing for the Magic Cyrcle. Eech, but none of us could come up with anything better, then we switch the channel and, hey, it’s the Hells Angels on the Carson show … And the first thing we hear is: “Now hold on there, Hoss. Some people call our women cheap, but we just call them our Mamas.” Cass jumped up: “Yeah! I want to be a Mama.” And Michelle is going: “We’re the Mamas! We’re the Mamas!” OK. I look at John. He’s looking at me going: “The Papas?” Problem solved. A toast! To the Mamas and the Papas. Well, after many, many toasts, Cass and John are passed out.” — Denny Doherty

 

Discography:
With The Big 3: 2
With The Mugwumps: 1
With The Mamas and the Papas: 6
Cass Solo:
Studio albums: 8
Soundtracks: 3
Singles: 16

Some things to share:

Elliot was married twice, the first time in 1963 to James Hendricks, her group mate in the Big 3 and the Mugwumps. It was a marriage of convenience to assist him in avoiding being drafted during the Vietnam War; the marriage never was consummated and was annulled in 1968. In 1971, Elliot married journalist Donald von Wiedenman, heir to a Bavarian barony. Their marriage ended in divorce after a few months.

Elliot gave birth to a daughter, Owen Vanessa Elliot, on 4/26/67. Owen also grew up to become a singer and toured with Beach Boys member Al Jardine. Elliot never publicly identified the father, but many years later, Michelle Phillips helped Owen locate her biological father, Chuck Day. His paternity was not publicly revealed until his 2008 death. After Elliot’s death, her younger sister, Leah Kunkel (then married to Los Angeles–based session drummer Russ Kunkel), gained custody of seven-year-old Owen and raised her along with her own son, Nathaniel.

Elliot received the 2,735th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on October 3, 2022.

Official website: here

Sources: wikipedia, YouTube