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Cass Elliot (born Ellen Naomi Cohen; September 19, 1941 – July 29, 1974), also known as Mama Cass, was an American singer and actress, best known as a member of the Mamas & the Papas. After the group broke up, she released five solo albums. In 1998 she was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her work with the Mamas & the Papas.[1]
Cass Elliot - Wikipedia
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"Creeque Alley" ~ The Mamas and the Papas
"Creeque Alley" ~ The Mamas and the Papas -- LYRICS John and Mitchy were gettin' kind of itchy Just to leave the folk music behind Zal and Denny workin' for ...
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Good evening my friend Maj Marty Hogan and thank you for making us aware that September 19 is the anniversary of the birth of American singer and actress Cass Elliot who was born Ellen Naomi Cohen and best known as a member of the Mamas & the Papas.
She had a wonderful voice IMHO and died very young at age 32.
Rest in peace Cass Elliot!
Mama Cass Elliot Biography
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_6AYNIGvqk
Biographies
1. jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ldquo-mama-rdquo-cass-elliot
2. casselliot.com/biography.htm
1. Background from {[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ldquo-mama-rdquo-cass-elliot]}
“Mama” Cass Elliot (1941 - 1974)
Called the Earth Mother of Hippiedom by fellow band member John Phillips, Cass Elliot brought charm and vocal muscle to a stormy and transitional period of American music history. In flowery print dresses of the mid-1960s, made tentlike to accommodate her great size, Elliot, born Ellen Naomi Cohen on February 19, 1941, in Baltimore, grew to fame with the tightly harmonic vocal group the Mamas and the Papas. During their three-year reign at the top of popular music charts, the Mamas and the Papas melded folk and psychedelic styles in a quartet whose half-dozen remembered songs still evoke a time prior to the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention, when hippie ideologies of communal living and relaxed standards of dress and demeanor had not yet divided the recording industry or the nation along fierce political lines. In 1966, the Mamas and the Papas made their television debut, singing “California Dreamin” on the variety show The Hollywood Palace. It was broadcast to American soldiers in Vietnam, and host Arthur Godfrey sent “our boys” a message of hope.
Cass Elliot looked like the mother of a commune, photographed lounging on the grass, a bottle of wine at her side. The band’s familial names lent credence to the public image that their lives were one continuous summer picnic. Papa John Phillips, baritone and songwriter, was a gangly opposite to his wife, Michelle Phillips. Michelle Phillips's delicate beauty offset the robust Mama Cass. Rounding out the quartet was tenor Denny Doherty, who shared the band's penchant for long hair and brightly colored clothing. Musically, the Mamas and the Papas created a sound never duplicated in American pop music. Their harmonies, indebted to the power of Elliot's voice, resemble a distant, often eerie echo that suddenly appears to be closer than it sounds. “California Dreamin’,” “Monday, Monday,” and “I Saw Her Again Last Night,” all written by John Phillips, remain staples of both AM radio and elevator music circuits, an honor never bestowed on songs by the band’s hard-edged contemporaries Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. But even within the Mamas and the Papas’ lush harmonies, the candor of Cass Elliot's voice is conspicuous.
Though very much a California band, the members of the Mamas and the Papas found each other through the folk music network in New York. Elliot had had her own group, Cass and the Big Three, and had been a member of the Mugwumps with Doherty before joining John Phillips's new band at St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, where the quartet perfected its sound in sunlight and penury. One of the Mamas and the Papas' biggest hits, the autobiographical chronicle "Creeque Alley," details the genesis of the band down to John Phillips's American Express card, which sustained all four until they arrived in Los Angeles and were immediately signed to a recording contract at Dunhill Records in 1965.
Although always overweight, Cass Elliot appeared comfortable with her size, and allowed it to inspire a few of John Phillips's lyrics. Verses of "Creeque Alley" conclude with the refrain, "No one's getting fat except Mama Cass." In his autobiography, Phillips says Elliot repeatedly tried to lose weight, but such worries never penetrated her public persona. A solo LP called "Bubblegum, Lemonade, and ... Something for Mama" features Elliot in a white baby dress seated on a wicker chair looking positively enormous. Labeled "the queen of L.A. pop society in the mid-sixties" by Rolling Stone, Elliot lived in a home in Laurel Canyon once owned by Natalie Wood. She surrounded herself with famous and soon-to-be famous peers in the recording industry, including David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Joni Mitchell. Elliot was first married to James Hendricks, of Cass and the Big Three, with whom she had a daughter, Owen Vanessa, in 1967, and again briefly to Baron Donald von Wiedenman in 1971.
Elliot's solo career began in 1968 with the release of the Mamas and the Papas song “Dream a Little Dream of Me.” Solo performing deprived her of the opportunity to serve the sumptuous harmonies that made the quartet distinctive, although “Dream a Little Dream” remains the clearest indication of her gift. She released eight albums as a solo artist (one as part of a duet with former Traffic member Dave Mason), but none was successful. Cass Elliot contented herself with a career in cabaret, and in the early 1970s was a frequent guest on television programs like The Hollywood Squares. Ironically, she was a guest host on The Tonight Show as the nation learned of Janis Joplin's death. Soon afterward, Elliot died after completing a show at the London Palladium on July 29, 1974. Speculation that Elliot choked on a sandwich has bound her musical legacy with her weight in perpetuity, a turn of events Cass Elliot might have heartily enjoyed.
SELECTED WORKS BY CASS ELLIOT
RECORDINGS WITH THE BIG THREE
The Big Three (1963); The Big Three Featuring Cass Elliot (1969); Live at the Recording Studio (1964).
RECORDINGS WITH THE MUGWUMPS
The Mugwumps (1967).
RECORDINGS WITH THE MAMAS AND THE PAPAS
Deliver (1967); Historic Performance at the Monterey International Pop Festival (1968); If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (1966); The Mamas and the Papas (1966); People Like Us (1971); Present The Papas and the Mamas (1968).
SOLO RECORDINGS
Bubblegum, Lemonade and . . . Somethingfor Mama (1969); Cass Elliot (1971); Dave Mason and Cass Elliot (1971); Compilation: Mama's Big Ones (1971); Don't Call Me Mama Anymore (1973); Dream a Little Dream (1968); Make Your Own Kind of Music (1969); The Road Is No Place for a Lady (1972)."
2. Background from {[http://www.casselliot.com/biography.htm]}
Cass Elliot was born Ellen Naomi Cohen on September 19, 1941 in Baltimore, Maryland. She grew up in the Washington D.C. environs and in her senior year of high school, she performed in a summer stock production of "The Boyfriend" at the Owings Mills Playhouse where she played the French nurse who sings "It's Nicer, Much Nicer in Nice." After this experience, even though her family anticipated her to seek a college education in pursuit of a career, Cass forged ahead in the world of performance. She made a splash in New York and began an acting career, competing with Barbra Streisand for the Miss Marmelstein part in "I Can Get It for You Wholesale" in 1962. She toured in a production of Meredith Wilson's "The Music Man." Elliot also produced a play at Cafe La Mama in New York.
But by early 1963 she had met up with Tim Rose and John Brown and formed a folk trio initially dubbed The Triumvirate, yet later known as The Big 3 when Brown was replaced by James Hendricks. The Big 3 were a progressive and innovative folk trio who recorded two albums and made appearances on The Tonight Show, Hootenanny and the Danny Kaye Show. In 1964 the group had begun to fall apart and it metamorphasized into a foursome called "Cass Elliot and The Big 3" which included Canadians, Denny Doherty and Zal Yanovsky (Tim Rose had left at this point). Soon this foursome became The Mugwumps who operated out of The Shadows nightclub in Washington. They released a single for Warner Brothers and stayed together through the end of 1964, until they too began to disintegrate. Cass Elliot began to work as a solo single in Washington, D.C.
At this point Denny Doherty had joined John and Michelle Phillips and the three were performing as The New Journeymen. Soon they left for the Virgin Islands where Cass subsequently joined them and the four began to sing together in mid-1965. Thus the superstar group The Mamas and The Papas was born. From 1965-1968 the Mamas and Papas recorded a series of top ten hits including "Monday, Monday," "California Dreamin'," "I Saw Her Again," and "Dedicated to the One I Love."
The group's last hit was a launching number for Cass Elliot. "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" became Cass' theme song and beginning in 1968 she embarked on her own short-lived but solid solo career. Her distinct voice had always emerged from the groups in which she sang. In 1969 she scored big with "It's Getting Better" and 1970 yielded the hits "Make Your Own Kind of Music" and "New World Coming." In 1970, Elliot also appeared in the film version of "Pufnstuf" and recorded an album with rock star Dave Mason.
Elliot had two prime time television specials of her own in 1969 and 1973, but most people remember her scores of television appearances throughout the early 1970's with Mike Douglas, Julie Andrews, Andy Williams, Johnny Cash, Red Skelton, Ed Sullivan, Tom Jones, Carol Burnett and others. She guest hosted The Tonight Show, had successful stints in Las Vegas and continued to record for RCA during these years too. Cass had one daughter Owen Vanessa in April 1967 and she was married twice, first (1963-68) to fellow Big 3 and Mugwumps member Jim Hendricks and second to Baron Donald von Wiedenman (1971).
In 1974, Cass Elliot travelled to London where she had a two week engagement at the London Palladium. After performing to sellout audiences and basking in repeated ovations, Cass tragically succumbed to a heart attack on July 29, 1974 in London, following this successful concert tour.
In 1998, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Cass Elliot and her fellow band mates from The Mamas and The Papas into that institution. Her daughter Owen represented her mother and accepted her award.
The Truth About Cass Elliot's Untimely Death
The facts about Cass Elliot's death have existed since a few days after she died on July 29, 1974. The pathologist who performed the autopsy, Keith Simpson, was one of England's leading forensic pathologists.
A competent forensic autopsy showed:
1) A heart problem leading to heart failure;
2) No sandwich or any other item in her throat or trachea; and
3) In fact, she had had very little to eat the day before she died.
Furthermore, the drug screen (a standard part of a forensic autopsy) showed no drugs in her system.
Simpson's conclusion was that Cass died of "heart failure due to fatty
myocardial degeneration due to obesity". Although this conclusion was disputed by American pathologists at the time, fatty myocardial degeneration is now recognized as a potentially lethal condition. The latest (1996) edition of the authoritative "Heart Fascicle" (officially, Tumors of the Heart and Great Vessels) published by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology states: "Rarely, lipomatous [fatty] infiltration ... may cause sudden death" and cites the following reference: Voigt J, Agsal N. Lipomatous infiltration of the heart. An uncommon cause of sudden unexpected death in a young man. Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 1982;106:497-8.
One possible theory is that Cass Elliot had a heart condition of this sort for a long time. This would be consistent with the various times she is reported to have passed out during the 1963-74 time period. In a young woman, fainting is usually due to heat, onset of flu, pregnancy, or some other innocuous cause, but if it continues to happen, it warrants investigation. A "cardiac conduction defect" creating a disturbance of heart rhythm just might be caused by a fatty myocardium and could explain a great deal. Failure of the fibers of the heart that should conduct the impulses that cause the heartbeat to do so is a known cause of sudden death.
With special thanks to Rhonda D. Wright, M.D.
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC (Join to see) Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Lt Col Charlie Brown Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price SCPO Morris Ramsey SGT Mark Halmrast Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. SGT Gregory Lawritson CPL Dave Hoover SPC Margaret Higgins SSgt Brian Brakke 1stSgt Eugene Harless CPT Scott Sharon PO1 H Gene Lawrence
She had a wonderful voice IMHO and died very young at age 32.
Rest in peace Cass Elliot!
Mama Cass Elliot Biography
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_6AYNIGvqk
Biographies
1. jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ldquo-mama-rdquo-cass-elliot
2. casselliot.com/biography.htm
1. Background from {[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ldquo-mama-rdquo-cass-elliot]}
“Mama” Cass Elliot (1941 - 1974)
Called the Earth Mother of Hippiedom by fellow band member John Phillips, Cass Elliot brought charm and vocal muscle to a stormy and transitional period of American music history. In flowery print dresses of the mid-1960s, made tentlike to accommodate her great size, Elliot, born Ellen Naomi Cohen on February 19, 1941, in Baltimore, grew to fame with the tightly harmonic vocal group the Mamas and the Papas. During their three-year reign at the top of popular music charts, the Mamas and the Papas melded folk and psychedelic styles in a quartet whose half-dozen remembered songs still evoke a time prior to the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention, when hippie ideologies of communal living and relaxed standards of dress and demeanor had not yet divided the recording industry or the nation along fierce political lines. In 1966, the Mamas and the Papas made their television debut, singing “California Dreamin” on the variety show The Hollywood Palace. It was broadcast to American soldiers in Vietnam, and host Arthur Godfrey sent “our boys” a message of hope.
Cass Elliot looked like the mother of a commune, photographed lounging on the grass, a bottle of wine at her side. The band’s familial names lent credence to the public image that their lives were one continuous summer picnic. Papa John Phillips, baritone and songwriter, was a gangly opposite to his wife, Michelle Phillips. Michelle Phillips's delicate beauty offset the robust Mama Cass. Rounding out the quartet was tenor Denny Doherty, who shared the band's penchant for long hair and brightly colored clothing. Musically, the Mamas and the Papas created a sound never duplicated in American pop music. Their harmonies, indebted to the power of Elliot's voice, resemble a distant, often eerie echo that suddenly appears to be closer than it sounds. “California Dreamin’,” “Monday, Monday,” and “I Saw Her Again Last Night,” all written by John Phillips, remain staples of both AM radio and elevator music circuits, an honor never bestowed on songs by the band’s hard-edged contemporaries Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. But even within the Mamas and the Papas’ lush harmonies, the candor of Cass Elliot's voice is conspicuous.
Though very much a California band, the members of the Mamas and the Papas found each other through the folk music network in New York. Elliot had had her own group, Cass and the Big Three, and had been a member of the Mugwumps with Doherty before joining John Phillips's new band at St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, where the quartet perfected its sound in sunlight and penury. One of the Mamas and the Papas' biggest hits, the autobiographical chronicle "Creeque Alley," details the genesis of the band down to John Phillips's American Express card, which sustained all four until they arrived in Los Angeles and were immediately signed to a recording contract at Dunhill Records in 1965.
Although always overweight, Cass Elliot appeared comfortable with her size, and allowed it to inspire a few of John Phillips's lyrics. Verses of "Creeque Alley" conclude with the refrain, "No one's getting fat except Mama Cass." In his autobiography, Phillips says Elliot repeatedly tried to lose weight, but such worries never penetrated her public persona. A solo LP called "Bubblegum, Lemonade, and ... Something for Mama" features Elliot in a white baby dress seated on a wicker chair looking positively enormous. Labeled "the queen of L.A. pop society in the mid-sixties" by Rolling Stone, Elliot lived in a home in Laurel Canyon once owned by Natalie Wood. She surrounded herself with famous and soon-to-be famous peers in the recording industry, including David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Joni Mitchell. Elliot was first married to James Hendricks, of Cass and the Big Three, with whom she had a daughter, Owen Vanessa, in 1967, and again briefly to Baron Donald von Wiedenman in 1971.
Elliot's solo career began in 1968 with the release of the Mamas and the Papas song “Dream a Little Dream of Me.” Solo performing deprived her of the opportunity to serve the sumptuous harmonies that made the quartet distinctive, although “Dream a Little Dream” remains the clearest indication of her gift. She released eight albums as a solo artist (one as part of a duet with former Traffic member Dave Mason), but none was successful. Cass Elliot contented herself with a career in cabaret, and in the early 1970s was a frequent guest on television programs like The Hollywood Squares. Ironically, she was a guest host on The Tonight Show as the nation learned of Janis Joplin's death. Soon afterward, Elliot died after completing a show at the London Palladium on July 29, 1974. Speculation that Elliot choked on a sandwich has bound her musical legacy with her weight in perpetuity, a turn of events Cass Elliot might have heartily enjoyed.
SELECTED WORKS BY CASS ELLIOT
RECORDINGS WITH THE BIG THREE
The Big Three (1963); The Big Three Featuring Cass Elliot (1969); Live at the Recording Studio (1964).
RECORDINGS WITH THE MUGWUMPS
The Mugwumps (1967).
RECORDINGS WITH THE MAMAS AND THE PAPAS
Deliver (1967); Historic Performance at the Monterey International Pop Festival (1968); If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (1966); The Mamas and the Papas (1966); People Like Us (1971); Present The Papas and the Mamas (1968).
SOLO RECORDINGS
Bubblegum, Lemonade and . . . Somethingfor Mama (1969); Cass Elliot (1971); Dave Mason and Cass Elliot (1971); Compilation: Mama's Big Ones (1971); Don't Call Me Mama Anymore (1973); Dream a Little Dream (1968); Make Your Own Kind of Music (1969); The Road Is No Place for a Lady (1972)."
2. Background from {[http://www.casselliot.com/biography.htm]}
Cass Elliot was born Ellen Naomi Cohen on September 19, 1941 in Baltimore, Maryland. She grew up in the Washington D.C. environs and in her senior year of high school, she performed in a summer stock production of "The Boyfriend" at the Owings Mills Playhouse where she played the French nurse who sings "It's Nicer, Much Nicer in Nice." After this experience, even though her family anticipated her to seek a college education in pursuit of a career, Cass forged ahead in the world of performance. She made a splash in New York and began an acting career, competing with Barbra Streisand for the Miss Marmelstein part in "I Can Get It for You Wholesale" in 1962. She toured in a production of Meredith Wilson's "The Music Man." Elliot also produced a play at Cafe La Mama in New York.
But by early 1963 she had met up with Tim Rose and John Brown and formed a folk trio initially dubbed The Triumvirate, yet later known as The Big 3 when Brown was replaced by James Hendricks. The Big 3 were a progressive and innovative folk trio who recorded two albums and made appearances on The Tonight Show, Hootenanny and the Danny Kaye Show. In 1964 the group had begun to fall apart and it metamorphasized into a foursome called "Cass Elliot and The Big 3" which included Canadians, Denny Doherty and Zal Yanovsky (Tim Rose had left at this point). Soon this foursome became The Mugwumps who operated out of The Shadows nightclub in Washington. They released a single for Warner Brothers and stayed together through the end of 1964, until they too began to disintegrate. Cass Elliot began to work as a solo single in Washington, D.C.
At this point Denny Doherty had joined John and Michelle Phillips and the three were performing as The New Journeymen. Soon they left for the Virgin Islands where Cass subsequently joined them and the four began to sing together in mid-1965. Thus the superstar group The Mamas and The Papas was born. From 1965-1968 the Mamas and Papas recorded a series of top ten hits including "Monday, Monday," "California Dreamin'," "I Saw Her Again," and "Dedicated to the One I Love."
The group's last hit was a launching number for Cass Elliot. "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" became Cass' theme song and beginning in 1968 she embarked on her own short-lived but solid solo career. Her distinct voice had always emerged from the groups in which she sang. In 1969 she scored big with "It's Getting Better" and 1970 yielded the hits "Make Your Own Kind of Music" and "New World Coming." In 1970, Elliot also appeared in the film version of "Pufnstuf" and recorded an album with rock star Dave Mason.
Elliot had two prime time television specials of her own in 1969 and 1973, but most people remember her scores of television appearances throughout the early 1970's with Mike Douglas, Julie Andrews, Andy Williams, Johnny Cash, Red Skelton, Ed Sullivan, Tom Jones, Carol Burnett and others. She guest hosted The Tonight Show, had successful stints in Las Vegas and continued to record for RCA during these years too. Cass had one daughter Owen Vanessa in April 1967 and she was married twice, first (1963-68) to fellow Big 3 and Mugwumps member Jim Hendricks and second to Baron Donald von Wiedenman (1971).
In 1974, Cass Elliot travelled to London where she had a two week engagement at the London Palladium. After performing to sellout audiences and basking in repeated ovations, Cass tragically succumbed to a heart attack on July 29, 1974 in London, following this successful concert tour.
In 1998, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Cass Elliot and her fellow band mates from The Mamas and The Papas into that institution. Her daughter Owen represented her mother and accepted her award.
The Truth About Cass Elliot's Untimely Death
The facts about Cass Elliot's death have existed since a few days after she died on July 29, 1974. The pathologist who performed the autopsy, Keith Simpson, was one of England's leading forensic pathologists.
A competent forensic autopsy showed:
1) A heart problem leading to heart failure;
2) No sandwich or any other item in her throat or trachea; and
3) In fact, she had had very little to eat the day before she died.
Furthermore, the drug screen (a standard part of a forensic autopsy) showed no drugs in her system.
Simpson's conclusion was that Cass died of "heart failure due to fatty
myocardial degeneration due to obesity". Although this conclusion was disputed by American pathologists at the time, fatty myocardial degeneration is now recognized as a potentially lethal condition. The latest (1996) edition of the authoritative "Heart Fascicle" (officially, Tumors of the Heart and Great Vessels) published by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology states: "Rarely, lipomatous [fatty] infiltration ... may cause sudden death" and cites the following reference: Voigt J, Agsal N. Lipomatous infiltration of the heart. An uncommon cause of sudden unexpected death in a young man. Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 1982;106:497-8.
One possible theory is that Cass Elliot had a heart condition of this sort for a long time. This would be consistent with the various times she is reported to have passed out during the 1963-74 time period. In a young woman, fainting is usually due to heat, onset of flu, pregnancy, or some other innocuous cause, but if it continues to happen, it warrants investigation. A "cardiac conduction defect" creating a disturbance of heart rhythm just might be caused by a fatty myocardium and could explain a great deal. Failure of the fibers of the heart that should conduct the impulses that cause the heartbeat to do so is a known cause of sudden death.
With special thanks to Rhonda D. Wright, M.D.
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC (Join to see) Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Lt Col Charlie Brown Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price SCPO Morris Ramsey SGT Mark Halmrast Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. SGT Gregory Lawritson CPL Dave Hoover SPC Margaret Higgins SSgt Brian Brakke 1stSgt Eugene Harless CPT Scott Sharon PO1 H Gene Lawrence
(9)
(0)
LTC Stephen F.
Cass Elliot - True Hollywood Story
Featured speaking are Michelle Phillips and Denny Doherty (of Mamas & Papas), David Crosby, Tommy Smothers, Graham Nash (of Crosby, Stills & Nash), her . 40t...
Cass Elliot - True Hollywood Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX0q-IFN-2Q
Images:
1. Mama Cass album 'Dream a Little Dream of me' released on October 19, 1968 by Dunhill Records.
2. Cass Elliot Daughter - This is Owen's mystery father, Owen Vanessa Elliot and Cass Elliot
3. Joel Diamond and Cass Elliot, 1969 photo by Tommy Mottola,
4. Owen Vanessa Elliot born on April 26, 1967
1. Background from {[ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0254177/bio]}
Cass Elliot Biography
Overview (4)
Born September 19, 1941 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Died July 29, 1974 in London, England, UK (heart attack)
Birth Name Ellen Naomi Cohen
Height 5' 5" (1.65 m)
Mini Bio (1)
Cass Elliot was born Ellen Naomi Cohen on September 19, 1941, in Baltimore, Maryland. She grew up in the Washington D.C. environs and in her senior year of high school, performed in a summer stock production of "The Boyfriend" at the Owings Mills Playhouse, where she played the French nurse who sings "It's Nicer, Much Nicer in Nice." After this experience, even though her family anticipated her seeking a college education in pursuit of a career, Cass forged ahead in the performing arts. She made a splash in New York and began an acting career, competing with Barbra Streisand for the Miss Marmelstein part in "I Can Get It for You Wholesale" in 1962.
She toured in a production of Meredith Willson's "The Music Man." Elliot also produced a play at Cafe La Mama in New York. However, by early 1963 she had met up with Tim Rose and John Brown and formed a folk trio initially dubbed The Triumvirate, but later known as The Big 3 when Brown was replaced by James Hendricks. The Big 3 were a progressive and innovative folk trio who recorded two albums and made appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), Hootenanny (1963) and The Danny Kaye Show (1963). In 1964 the group had begun to fall apart and it metamorphosized into a foursome called "Cass Elliot and The Big Three" which included Canadians Denny Doherty and Zal Yanovsky (Rose had left at this point). Soon this foursome became The Mugwumps who operated out of The Shadows nightclub in Washington. They released a single for Warner Brothers and stayed together through the end of 1964, until they, too, began to disintegrate. Cass began to work as a solo single in Washington, D.C.
At this point Doherty had joined John Phillips and Michelle Phillips and the three were performing as The New Journeymen. Soon they left for the Virgin Islands, where Cass subsequently joined them, and the four began to sing together in mid-1965--thus, the superstar group The Mamas and The Papas was born. From 1965 to 1968 the Mamas and Papas recorded a series of top-ten hits including "Monday, Monday," "California Dreamin'," "I Saw Her Again," and "Dedicated to the One I Love."
The group's last hit was a launching number for Cass Elliot. "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" became her theme song and, beginning in 1968, she embarked on her own short-lived but solid solo career. Her distinct voice had always emerged from the groups in which she sang. In 1969 she scored big with "It's Getting Better" and 1970 yielded the hits "Make Your Own Kind of Music" and "New World Coming." In 1970, Elliot also appeared in the film Pufnstuf (1970) and recorded an album with rock singer Dave Mason. Recently, the issue of the soundtrack of Monte Walsh (1970) turned up four different versions of her theme song, "The Good Times Are Coming", composed by John Barry and Hal David.
Elliot had two prime-time television specials of her own in 1969 and 1973, but most people remember her scores of television appearances throughout the early 1970s with Mike Douglas, Julie Andrews, Andy Williams, Johnny Cash, Red Skelton, Ed Sullivan, Tom Jones, Carol Burnett and others. She guest-hosted "The Tonight Show", had successful stints in Las Vegas and continued to record for RCA during these years, too. Cass had one daughter, Owen Vanessa, in April 1967 and she was married twice, first (1963-68) to fellow Big Three and Mugwumps member Jim Hendricks and second to Baron Donald von Wiedenman (1971). In 1974, she traveled to London where she had a two-week engagement at the London Palladium. After performing to sellout crowds and basking in repeated ovations, Cass tragically succumbed to a heart attack on July 29, 1974 in London, following this successful concert tour (and NOT, as is commonly believed, from choking on a sandwich).
In 1998, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Cass Elliot and her fellow band-mates from The Mamas and The Papas into that institution. Her daughter Owen represented her mother and accepted her award.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Richard Barton Campbell/ [login to see]
Spouse (2)
Donald von Wiedenman (29 June 1971 - 1972) ( divorced)
James Hendricks (10 December 1963 - 1969) ( annulled)
Trivia (26)
1. Born at 9:0pm-EDT
2. An urban legend arose that she died choking on a ham sandwich because a partially eaten ham sandwich was found by her bed. When police were asked the cause of death prior to an autopsy, they speculated that she either died of a heart attack or choked to death on a ham sandwich, but she officially died of a heart attack. The autopsy revealed that a full third of her heart muscle had degenerated; bandmate Denny Doherty said later "Cassie literally died of a broken heart.".
3. Buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California - Court of Tanach, Lot 5000, Grave 2F.
4. Recording six albums after she went solo, she teamed briefly (and unsuccessfully) in 1971 with musician Dave Mason.
5. Her sister, Leah Kunkel, became the legal guardian of her daughter, Owen Elliot-Kugell (born in on 26 April 1967), upon her death in 1974.
6. Hated being called 'Mama' Cass, which she took as a derogatory comment on her 300+ poundage. Additionally, it bothered her that the moniker led many to mistakenly assume Cass was her last name.
7. She once guest hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962).
8. A member of the folk group "The Mugwumps" before hitting it big, she married one of its members, James Hendricks, to help him avoid the draft. The marriage was never consummated and was later annulled.
9. She actually preferred classical music, jazz and Broadway show tunes to rock.
10. She auditioned for the "Miss Marmelstein" stage role in "I Can Get It for You Wholesale" but lost out to Barbra Streisand.
11. She was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with the other Mamas and Papas, in 1998. Her award was accepted by her daughter, Owen Elliot-Kugell.
12. Mother of Owen Elliot-Kugell, whose father's name she never revealed to anyone. Michelle Phillips helped Owen find her biological father.
13. Posed nude for Cheetah magazine.
14. Her last appearance on American television was on the quiz show Celebrity Sweepstakes (1974).
15. Ranked #23 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock N Roll
16. Is credited with helping to assemble the bands The Lovin' Spoonful and Crosby Stills Nash & Young.
17. Had an IQ of 165.
18. Died in the same room, No. 12 at 9 Curzon Place in London, where The Who drummer Keith Moon died four years later. Musician Harry Nilsson was the leaseholder; after Moon's death, Nilsson sold the lease.
19. Older sister of Leah Kunkel.
20. Assumed the surname Elliot in memory of a dead friend.
21. The Crosby Stills & Nash Greatest Hits album was dedicated to her (2005).
22. Ex-sister-in-law of Russ Kunkel.
23. Aunt of Nathaniel Kunkel.
24. Was instrumental in the formation of Crosby Stills & Nash. According to legend, the trio first performed in the kitchen of her house in Laurel Canyon.
25. Formed the short-lived duo, "Mason and Cass", with former Traffic guitarist/vocalist Dave Mason.
26. Regularly drove approximately 40 miles from her home on Woodrow Wilson Drive in the Laurel Canyon section of the Hollywood Hills to the Malibu home of Julia Phillips so they could play the card game canasta during the early 1970s. Phillips, who lived with her husband on Nicholas Beach Rd. in the Trancas Highlands section of Malibu during that era, later devoted four pages to the singer in the bestselling book "You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again." Phillips also claimed the singer hated the IRS and paid an outstanding debt of $10,000 to this government agency with a truckload of pennies that she arranged to leave outside its office near the 405 freeway in the Westwood section of Los Angeles. Phillips continued the story on page 154 of the book: "It was a costly joke -- finding the pennies and the truck large enough to do it cost her another three grand, not to mention being cited by the government for contempt and having to collect the pennies and remove them. All in all she came out about even. That was how it was with Cass. If she broke even, she was having fun.".
Personal Quotes (4)
1. When you're on stage, you gotta do it. People pay to see you, and they deserve to be entertained and you should go out there and really give it your best shot. And that's quite a challenge. You have a new audience for every show. Even though you do the same thing all the time, you gotta keep it fresh for yourself and you gotta keep it good and interesting and something you want to do. I'm anxious to have a really terrific act. Whatever it takes it takes.
2. Rock and roll is relentless. That's what I want to do in Las Vegas, not let up. Really pour it on.
3. I would say the world's in terrible shape, but I'm afraid the world would say, "Look who's talking"
4. Probably the biggest bring-down in my life was being in a pop group and finding out just how much it was like everything it was supposed to be against.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX0q-IFN-2Q
Images:
1. Mama Cass album 'Dream a Little Dream of me' released on October 19, 1968 by Dunhill Records.
2. Cass Elliot Daughter - This is Owen's mystery father, Owen Vanessa Elliot and Cass Elliot
3. Joel Diamond and Cass Elliot, 1969 photo by Tommy Mottola,
4. Owen Vanessa Elliot born on April 26, 1967
1. Background from {[ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0254177/bio]}
Cass Elliot Biography
Overview (4)
Born September 19, 1941 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Died July 29, 1974 in London, England, UK (heart attack)
Birth Name Ellen Naomi Cohen
Height 5' 5" (1.65 m)
Mini Bio (1)
Cass Elliot was born Ellen Naomi Cohen on September 19, 1941, in Baltimore, Maryland. She grew up in the Washington D.C. environs and in her senior year of high school, performed in a summer stock production of "The Boyfriend" at the Owings Mills Playhouse, where she played the French nurse who sings "It's Nicer, Much Nicer in Nice." After this experience, even though her family anticipated her seeking a college education in pursuit of a career, Cass forged ahead in the performing arts. She made a splash in New York and began an acting career, competing with Barbra Streisand for the Miss Marmelstein part in "I Can Get It for You Wholesale" in 1962.
She toured in a production of Meredith Willson's "The Music Man." Elliot also produced a play at Cafe La Mama in New York. However, by early 1963 she had met up with Tim Rose and John Brown and formed a folk trio initially dubbed The Triumvirate, but later known as The Big 3 when Brown was replaced by James Hendricks. The Big 3 were a progressive and innovative folk trio who recorded two albums and made appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), Hootenanny (1963) and The Danny Kaye Show (1963). In 1964 the group had begun to fall apart and it metamorphosized into a foursome called "Cass Elliot and The Big Three" which included Canadians Denny Doherty and Zal Yanovsky (Rose had left at this point). Soon this foursome became The Mugwumps who operated out of The Shadows nightclub in Washington. They released a single for Warner Brothers and stayed together through the end of 1964, until they, too, began to disintegrate. Cass began to work as a solo single in Washington, D.C.
At this point Doherty had joined John Phillips and Michelle Phillips and the three were performing as The New Journeymen. Soon they left for the Virgin Islands, where Cass subsequently joined them, and the four began to sing together in mid-1965--thus, the superstar group The Mamas and The Papas was born. From 1965 to 1968 the Mamas and Papas recorded a series of top-ten hits including "Monday, Monday," "California Dreamin'," "I Saw Her Again," and "Dedicated to the One I Love."
The group's last hit was a launching number for Cass Elliot. "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" became her theme song and, beginning in 1968, she embarked on her own short-lived but solid solo career. Her distinct voice had always emerged from the groups in which she sang. In 1969 she scored big with "It's Getting Better" and 1970 yielded the hits "Make Your Own Kind of Music" and "New World Coming." In 1970, Elliot also appeared in the film Pufnstuf (1970) and recorded an album with rock singer Dave Mason. Recently, the issue of the soundtrack of Monte Walsh (1970) turned up four different versions of her theme song, "The Good Times Are Coming", composed by John Barry and Hal David.
Elliot had two prime-time television specials of her own in 1969 and 1973, but most people remember her scores of television appearances throughout the early 1970s with Mike Douglas, Julie Andrews, Andy Williams, Johnny Cash, Red Skelton, Ed Sullivan, Tom Jones, Carol Burnett and others. She guest-hosted "The Tonight Show", had successful stints in Las Vegas and continued to record for RCA during these years, too. Cass had one daughter, Owen Vanessa, in April 1967 and she was married twice, first (1963-68) to fellow Big Three and Mugwumps member Jim Hendricks and second to Baron Donald von Wiedenman (1971). In 1974, she traveled to London where she had a two-week engagement at the London Palladium. After performing to sellout crowds and basking in repeated ovations, Cass tragically succumbed to a heart attack on July 29, 1974 in London, following this successful concert tour (and NOT, as is commonly believed, from choking on a sandwich).
In 1998, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Cass Elliot and her fellow band-mates from The Mamas and The Papas into that institution. Her daughter Owen represented her mother and accepted her award.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Richard Barton Campbell/ [login to see]
Spouse (2)
Donald von Wiedenman (29 June 1971 - 1972) ( divorced)
James Hendricks (10 December 1963 - 1969) ( annulled)
Trivia (26)
1. Born at 9:0pm-EDT
2. An urban legend arose that she died choking on a ham sandwich because a partially eaten ham sandwich was found by her bed. When police were asked the cause of death prior to an autopsy, they speculated that she either died of a heart attack or choked to death on a ham sandwich, but she officially died of a heart attack. The autopsy revealed that a full third of her heart muscle had degenerated; bandmate Denny Doherty said later "Cassie literally died of a broken heart.".
3. Buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California - Court of Tanach, Lot 5000, Grave 2F.
4. Recording six albums after she went solo, she teamed briefly (and unsuccessfully) in 1971 with musician Dave Mason.
5. Her sister, Leah Kunkel, became the legal guardian of her daughter, Owen Elliot-Kugell (born in on 26 April 1967), upon her death in 1974.
6. Hated being called 'Mama' Cass, which she took as a derogatory comment on her 300+ poundage. Additionally, it bothered her that the moniker led many to mistakenly assume Cass was her last name.
7. She once guest hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962).
8. A member of the folk group "The Mugwumps" before hitting it big, she married one of its members, James Hendricks, to help him avoid the draft. The marriage was never consummated and was later annulled.
9. She actually preferred classical music, jazz and Broadway show tunes to rock.
10. She auditioned for the "Miss Marmelstein" stage role in "I Can Get It for You Wholesale" but lost out to Barbra Streisand.
11. She was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with the other Mamas and Papas, in 1998. Her award was accepted by her daughter, Owen Elliot-Kugell.
12. Mother of Owen Elliot-Kugell, whose father's name she never revealed to anyone. Michelle Phillips helped Owen find her biological father.
13. Posed nude for Cheetah magazine.
14. Her last appearance on American television was on the quiz show Celebrity Sweepstakes (1974).
15. Ranked #23 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock N Roll
16. Is credited with helping to assemble the bands The Lovin' Spoonful and Crosby Stills Nash & Young.
17. Had an IQ of 165.
18. Died in the same room, No. 12 at 9 Curzon Place in London, where The Who drummer Keith Moon died four years later. Musician Harry Nilsson was the leaseholder; after Moon's death, Nilsson sold the lease.
19. Older sister of Leah Kunkel.
20. Assumed the surname Elliot in memory of a dead friend.
21. The Crosby Stills & Nash Greatest Hits album was dedicated to her (2005).
22. Ex-sister-in-law of Russ Kunkel.
23. Aunt of Nathaniel Kunkel.
24. Was instrumental in the formation of Crosby Stills & Nash. According to legend, the trio first performed in the kitchen of her house in Laurel Canyon.
25. Formed the short-lived duo, "Mason and Cass", with former Traffic guitarist/vocalist Dave Mason.
26. Regularly drove approximately 40 miles from her home on Woodrow Wilson Drive in the Laurel Canyon section of the Hollywood Hills to the Malibu home of Julia Phillips so they could play the card game canasta during the early 1970s. Phillips, who lived with her husband on Nicholas Beach Rd. in the Trancas Highlands section of Malibu during that era, later devoted four pages to the singer in the bestselling book "You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again." Phillips also claimed the singer hated the IRS and paid an outstanding debt of $10,000 to this government agency with a truckload of pennies that she arranged to leave outside its office near the 405 freeway in the Westwood section of Los Angeles. Phillips continued the story on page 154 of the book: "It was a costly joke -- finding the pennies and the truck large enough to do it cost her another three grand, not to mention being cited by the government for contempt and having to collect the pennies and remove them. All in all she came out about even. That was how it was with Cass. If she broke even, she was having fun.".
Personal Quotes (4)
1. When you're on stage, you gotta do it. People pay to see you, and they deserve to be entertained and you should go out there and really give it your best shot. And that's quite a challenge. You have a new audience for every show. Even though you do the same thing all the time, you gotta keep it fresh for yourself and you gotta keep it good and interesting and something you want to do. I'm anxious to have a really terrific act. Whatever it takes it takes.
2. Rock and roll is relentless. That's what I want to do in Las Vegas, not let up. Really pour it on.
3. I would say the world's in terrible shape, but I'm afraid the world would say, "Look who's talking"
4. Probably the biggest bring-down in my life was being in a pop group and finding out just how much it was like everything it was supposed to be against.
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