July 29, 1974, 50 years ago: Cass Elliot, formerly of the rock vocal group The Mamas & The Papas, dies in London.
Ellen Naomi Cohen was born on September 19, 1941 in Baltimore. She took "Cass" not from anyone named "Cassandra," but from actress Peggy Cass. "Elliot" was the name of a friend who had died. The song "Creeque Alley" tells how her group got together, but takes some liberties with the truth: She went to American University in Washington, D.C., not Swarthmore College in the suburbs of Philadelphia.
In 1963, she formed a folksinging group, the Big 3, with Tim Rose and John Brown. Brown soon left the group, and was replaced with Jim Hendricks -- not to be confused with Jimi Hendrix, who would become a friend of Cass'. Cass and Jim got married, in order to get him a deferment from being drafted and sent to Vietnam. They never consummated the marriage, and it was annulled once he became too old to be drafted.
Rose left them in 1964, and they picked up a pair of Canadian folkies working in New York, Zal Yanovsky and Denny Doherty. They formed a new group, The Mugwumps. After 8 months, Zal met a New York folksinger named John Sebastian, and, with Steve Boone and Joe Butler, they formed The Lovin' Spoonful. Denny joined the New Journeymen, with John Phillips and his wife Michelle.
In 1965, Denny convinced John to take on a now-solo Cass. Supposedly, they were working on a name, when they were watching a TV documentary about the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang, and saw that they called their girlfriends "mamas." Cass said, "I want to be a mama!" And so, the group was named The Mamas & the Papas. (Contrary to mistakes commonly made with the group's name, there was just the one capital T, and no apostrophes.)
Cass was 24, Denny 25, Michelle only 19, and John 30. (He had been married before.) Now based in Los Angeles, the group recorded the album If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears, whose cover showed the four of them in a bathtub, with Michelle stretched out across the other three seated. It also showed a toilet next to the bathtub, and some of America's self-appointed moral arbiters objected. Subsequent pressings obscured the bowl with boxes listing the songs, and the original cover became a collector's item, as with the Beatles' Yesterday and Today "Butcher Sleeve," Hendrix' Electric Ladyland with the topless women, and the original version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Street Survivors with the flames.
If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears, as would be all their albums, was produced by Lou Adler. It was released on February 28, 1966, and included "California Dreamin'," which became the group's 1st hit, at Number 5; its B-side, "Go Where You Wanna Go," which reached Number 16; "Monday, Monday," which became their only Number 1 hit; and covers of Bobby Freeman's "Do You Wanna Dance," Ben E. King's "Spanish Harlem," The Beatles' "I Call Your Name," Ramsey Lewis' "The In Crowd," and The Turtles' "You Baby." P.F. "Phil" Sloan, who had written "You Baby" with Steve Barri -- they had also written "Eve of Destruction," by the group's friend, Barry McGuire -- played lead guitar on the album.
The group's harmonies, and John's lyrics and guitar playing, quickly made them icons of West Coast rock and roll. Months before San Francisco launched "The Summer of Love," at a time when "hippie" still meant "jazz musician" to most people, they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show -- with the original bathtub shipped east and used as part of their stage set -- and became the 1st act to mention "flower power" on TV, offering Ed a flower. Most acts played the show live, but, for whatever reason, The Mamas & the Papas lip-synched. Ed only had them on twice, but later welcomed similar-sounding groups Spanky & Our Gang and The Cowsills.
Most acts that have a self-titled album make that their 1st one. But their 2nd album was titled The Mamas & the Papas. It had their own hits "Words of Love" (not to be confused with the Buddy Holly song of that title) and "I Saw Her Again," plus a cover of Martha & the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street."
The Mamas & The Papas Deliver was released early in 1967. Can you imagine The Mamas & the Papas singing The Isley Brothers' "Twist and Shout"? Well, with Denny on the lead, they sang it in their style. They also covered The 5 Royales' "Dedicated to the One I Love," as had The Shirelles before them. That version went to Number 3, but this one went to Number 2. They also covered "Sing for Your Supper," from the 1938 Rodgers & Hart musical The Boys from Syracuse; and The Temptations' "My Girl." The album included "Creeque Alley," written by John and Michelle, which tells of how the group got together, but, as I said, it contains some inaccuracies.
But, for such a talented group, they only released 5 albums. The Papas & The Mamas was released in Spring 1968. It included "Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon," and what is often erroneously considered Cass' 1st solo single, but it's definitely the definitive version of the song: Gus Kahn's "Dream a Little Dream of Me." And People Like Us was released in 1971, after the group split.
Touring became difficult, partly because of parenthood. Cass had a fling with Chuck Day, Johnny Rivers' guitarist, who, like Phil Sloan, played on their 1st album. Their daughter, Owen Elliot, was born on April 26, 1967. Since Cass was still officially married to Jim Hendricks, the affair, and even the pregnancy, was kept quiet. Since Cass was already well overweight, this wasn't as hard as could be expected. John & Michelle's daughter, Chynna Phillips, was born on February 12, 1968.
But there was also drug use. And infidelity on the part of both halves of the Phillips couple. John even accused Michelle and Denny of having betrayed him. There were even professional issues: Cass complained about John, a micromanager and a control freak, taking an entire month to record one song. The group split and reconciled twice before Dunhill Records released them from their contract in early 1969.
Like Bobby Darin, who preferred the earlier, Frank Sinatra style of popular music, Cass used rock as a springboard for what she really wanted to do, which was to sing folk music and popular standards. She had already released her 1st solo album, which had "Dream a Little Dream of Me" on it, along with songs by John Sebastian, Leonard Cohen, Richard Manuel of The Band, and Graham Nash of The Hollies. (He was about to form a new group with David Crosby and Stephen Stills.)
Her 1st solo stand in Las Vegas was a disaster, as her crash diet led to her getting sick and affecting her voice. She bounced back. In 1970, Ed Sullivan broadcast a tribute to Broadway songwriter Richard Rodgers, live from the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, and Cass and Johnny Mathis sang a duet of "My Favorite Things." In 1972, she appeared on The Julie Andrews Hour, and sang Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again, Naturally."
She was successful on the cabaret circuit, and became a fixture on talk shows, both daytime and nighttime. At the time, these shows were not geared toward a rock and roll audience, and her standards and "adult contemporary" style fit in well. She did a week's stand as a panelist on Match Game when it returned in 1973. That year, in spite of the fact that she was the one who led to her former group's name, she released an album titled Don't Call Me Mama Anymore.
Unfortunately, she had something else in common with Bobby Darin: A bad heart. In Darin's case, it was publicly known, and he died 7 months earlier, following a failed surgery. But with Cass, in spite of her weight issues, nobody saw a fatal heart attack coming.
In the Summer of 1974, she went to London, to play 2 weeks at the London Palladium. It was a smash, and she celebrated a little too hard. On July 27, she attended Rolling Stone Mick Jagger's birthday party. The next day, British singer Georgia Brown, who had performed on The Ed Sullivan Show the same night as The Beatles' debut, threw a brunch party in her honor. Witnesses saw her having trouble breathing. She then went to a cocktail party hosted by American entertainment journalist Jack Martin, and witnesses thought she looked exhausted. She left at 8:00 PM, saying she was tired.
She was staying at singer Harry Nilsson's apartment on London's Curzon Square. On July 29, she was found there, dead. According to the autopsy, it was a heart attack, with no drugs in her system. A half-eaten ham sandwich was found, and the rumor that she died from choking on it got around, but it wasn't true. If the sandwich had anything to do with her death, it would have been the ham's high salt content. Four years later, The Who's drummer, Keith Moon, would die in that same apartment, and at the same age, 32. But, in his case, drugs were involved.
The surviving Mamas & Papas reunited for a tour in 1987, with Spanky & Our Gang leader Elaine McFarlane -- nicknamed "Spanky" in honor of Our Gang member George McFarland -- taking Cass' place. John Phillips died in 2001, and Denny Doherty in 2007. Chynna Phillips formed Wilson Phillips with Carnie and Wendy Wilson, daughters of Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys. Mackenzie Phillips, John's daughter from his 1st marriage, became an actress, starring on the sitcom One Day at a Time. Bijou Phillips, John's daughter from his 3rd marriage, also became an actress.
Cass' sister, Leah Kunkel, was also a singer, and raised Owen after Cass' death. Owen became a singer, and toured as a backup singer for The Beach Boys. Michelle Phillips later helped Owen find her biological father, and they connected, but it was only in 2008, after Chuck Day died, that he was revealed to the public as Owen's father. As of July 29, 2002, Owen Elliott, Michelle Phillips, Lou Adler and Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane are still alive.
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