Cass Elliot

Singer

• Born: September 19, 1941
• Birthplace: Baltimore, Maryland
• Died: July 29, 1974
• Place of death: London, England

American rock singer and songwriter

Renowned for her powerful, clear contralto voice and dynamic stage presence, Elliot achieved popularity as a member of the 1960’s group the Mamas and the Papas. She was the only member of the group to have a successful solo career.

Member of Triumvirate; the Big Three; the Mugwumps; the Mamas and the Papas

The Life

“Mama Cass” Elliot was born Ellen Naomi Cohen to Philip Cohen and Beth Levine, who were in the restaurant business. Both parents were musical: Her father loved opera, and her mother played the piano. As a child, Elliot listened to singers; her favorites were Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, and Blossom Dearie. She took piano lessons in grade school, and later, her enthusiasm growing for folk music, she switched to the guitar. At Forest Park High School in Baltimore, she sang in the choir, and she acted in school plays. By age seventeen she had adopted the name Cassandra Elliot. Nicknamed Cass by her father, for the prophetess Cassandra of Greek mythology, she added Elliot in honor of a friend who had been killed in an automobile accident.

During the summer between her junior and senior years in high school, she filled in for a cast member at the Owings Mills Playhouse, playing the role of the French maid in Sandy Wilson’s musical The Boy Friend (1954). This was her theatrical debut, and after her success, high school was less interesting. Elliot dropped out and took a part-time job at the Jewish Times, but she still yearned for a singing career.

Although her parents wanted her to finish high school and enroll at Goucher College to become a teacher, Elliot chose to start her performing career by moving to New York City, where she made the rounds of auditions, singing “Glitter and Be Gay” from Leonard Bernstein’s Candide (1956). Although she came close to getting the part of Miss Marmelstein in Harold Rome’s I Can Get It for You Wholesale (1962), the part went to another unknown: Barbra Streisand. After completing a tour with Meredith Willson’s The Music Man (1957), Elliot decided to enroll in college to get a foundation in drama. She went to American University in Washington, D.C., but she spent a lot of time at the university’s theater, anxious to return to performing. When a fellow student who appreciated her voice asked her to relocate to Chicago to join a singing group, she jumped at the chance. She started her professional singing career in Chicago with the folk-singing group the Triumvirate. When the group relocated to Omaha, Nebraska, Jim Hendricks replaced one of the male singers. Elliot married Hendricks in 1963, so he could avoid being drafted for the Army. They divorced in 1969. When that group broke up, Elliot joined another group with Hendricks, Zalman Yanovsky, and Denny Doherty, billed as Cass Elliot and the Big Three. In 1964, after a drummer was added to the group, the name was changed to the Mugwumps. The group lasted about a year. In 1965 Elliot joined the Mamas and the Papas and became a star. She gave birth to a daughter, Owen Vanessa Elliot, in April, 1967.

Although Elliot enjoyed success as a group member, she wanted a solo career. When the Mamas and Papas disbanded in 1968, Elliot gained acclaim as a soloist. She recorded six albums, and she sang in nightclubs. She appeared on a number of television variety shows, and she had two prime-time television specials of her own in 1969 and 1973. She married Baron Donald von Weidenman in 1971, but the marriage was annulled shortly thereafter. In 1974, following a successful two-week run at the London Palladium, she died of a heart attack.

The Music

The Mamas and the Papas. In 1965 Elliot joined friends in the Virgin Islands, and there she met John Phillips, who was forming a group with his wife Michelle and Doherty. Initially, Phillips rejected Elliot because her vocal range was too low to complement the harmonies he was developing. However, as the story goes, Elliot was felled by a steel pipe at a construction site, she suffered a concussion, and after that she found she could sing the higher notes. Phillips immediately hired her. After working months to perfect a distinctive sound, the group moved to Los Angeles, where it was discovered by producer Lou Adler, who had formed the Dunhill Records label.

The music generated by the Mamas and the Papas was a mix of folk and rock, characterized by intricate harmonies. What supported the sound was Elliot’s strong contralto, which she had to keep under control, so she did not overwhelm the light soprano of Michelle Phillips. In 1965 Dunhill Records released the group’s first record, the single “California Dreamin’.” It climbed to number four on the charts, and it sold more than a million copies. A second hit, “Monday, Monday,” sold 160,000 copies the first day, and it won a Grammy Award in March, 1967, in the Best Group Performance category. Critics noted that the Mamas and the Papas were the right group for the time, with their flower-child appeal and innocence.

Although constantly fighting a battle with her weight, Elliot, with her wisecracking sense of humor, was a crowd pleaser. Her fans were enthralled by her rich voice, and they enjoyed her unpretentious manner.

Solo Career. When the Mamas and Papas broke up in 1968, Elliot started her solo career in earnest. In 1969 her signature song, “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” launched her career, becoming her biggest hit. Other best-selling singles included “It’s Getting Better,” “Make Your Own Kind of Music,” and “New World Coming.”

Musical Legacy

Elliot’s voice, with its warmth and power, contributed significantly to the success of the Mamas and the Papas. In 1998 Elliot, as a member of the Mamas and the Papas, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. With the Mamas and Papas and as a solo act, Elliot was known as the queen of pop music. She was generous with her friends, and she hosted many aspiring artists in her home. Elliot introduced Graham Nash to David Crosby and Stephen Stills, who later formed the group Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Elliot demonstrated that a large woman could be a commercial success, with her fans focusing on her voice. A 1996 British film, Beautiful Thing, featured many of Elliot’s songs. In the second-season opener of the television show Lost, Elliot’s song “Make Your Own Kind of Music” introduced another generation to her distinctive voice.

Principal Recordings

albums (solo): Dream a Little Dream of Me, 1968; Bubble Gum, Lemonade, and Something for Mama, 1969; Make Your Own Kind of Music, 1969; Cass Elliot, 1971; Road Is No Place for a Lady, 1972; Don’t Call Me Mama Anymore, 1973.

albums (with the Big Three): The Big Three, 1963.

albums (with the Mamas and the Papas): If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears, 1966; The Mamas and the Papas, 1966; Deliver, 1967; The Papas and the Mamas, 1968; People Like Us, 1971; Elliot, Phillips, Gilliam, Doherty, 1988.

albums (with the Mugwumps): The Mugwumps, 1967.

singles (with the Mamas and the Papas): “California Dreamin’,” 1965.

Bibliography

Haag, John. “Elliot, Cass.” In Women in World History, edited by Anne Commire. Waterford, Conn.: Yorkin, 2002. Includes biographical material and an overview of Elliot’s career.

Kloman, William. “Sing Along with Mama Cass.” Esquire (June, 1969): 102-104. Good background on Elliot’s childhood and her Las Vegas solo debut.

Phillips, John, with Jim Jerome. Papa John, an Autobiography. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1986. Includes information on Elliot’s involvement with the Mama and the Papas.

Phillips, Michelle. “California Dreamin’”: The True Story of the Mamas and the Papas. New York: Warner, 1986. Dedicated to Mama Cass, the book includes background information about the group and about Elliot.