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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 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. |
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.
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.
