Cass Elliot Artistfacts

September 19, 1941 - July 29, 1974
Cass Elliot became Mama Cass when she joined The Mamas & the Papas in 1965. When the group broke up in 1968 after a run of hits, she stayed on their label, Dunhill, and launched a successful solo career, starting with her cover of the standard "Dream A Little Dream Of Me."
Her daughter Owen was born in 1967. Cass didn't reveal the identity of the father, but when Owen was 19, she learned it was a bass player named Chuck Day. She sought him out and they forged a relationship.
Her real name was Ellen. She earned the nickname Cass from her father, who affectionately called her "the mad Cassandra" when she was a kid.
She would tolerate jokes about her weight, most famously in the Mamas & the Papas song "Creeque Alley," where they sing, "No one's gettin' fat except Mama Cass," and would carry herself with confidence, even posing naked in a bed of flowers for an ad to promote her "Dream a Little Dream of Me" single, but according to her daughter Owen, who researched her mom extensively, the fat jokes stung. Cass was always trying to lose weight but couldn't - she would always put it back on.
There was persistent rumor that Cass Elliot died from choking on a ham sandwich. Her manager planted that story because he thought drugs were involved in her death and he didn't want her dismissed as yet another drug overdose casualty in rock. She actually died from a heart attack, and her autopsy revealed there were no drugs in her system.

The truth wasn't revealed until 2020 when Sue Cameron, who published the ham sandwich story in the Hollywood Reporter, admitted to it. Elliot was just 32 when she died.
Her sister Leah married the renown session drummer Russ Kunkel, who played on songs for the likes of James Taylor ("Fire and Rain") and Stevie Nicks ("Edge Of Seventeen"). When Cass died, Leah and Russ raised her daughter Owen, who was 7 years old.
She was good friends with David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, and helped bring them together to form Crosby, Stills & Nash (she introduced Nash to the other two). Cass sang backup on their song "Pre-Road Downs."
She grew up in a suburb of Baltimore but moved to New York City in 1960 to make it as a singer. She made a deal with her parents: If she didn't succeed in the business after five years, she would move back home. She was close to that deadline when The Mamas & the Papas landed their first hit, "California Dreamin'."
Cass Elliot made a lot of TV appearances in the early '70s, often in sketch comedy bits or hosting talk shows. She did stints hosting The Mike Douglas Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and was on several episodes of The Carol Burnett Show.

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