Cass Elliot carried one of her greatest

secrets to her grave nobody knew who her

child’s real father was it was only

years later that Elliott’s bandmate

Michelle Phillips discovered his

identity and it was the biggest

bombshell of

all she was the breakout star of the

folk rock band The Mamas and the Papas

but her onstage Talent masked her tragic

true story full of unrequited love

embarrassing career blunders see secret

trrs and dangerous diets her struggle

with her self-image haunted her right

until she sang her last note with one

mean meth that persists to this

day Ellen Naomi Cohen was born in

Baltimore Maryland in September

1941 her family who were Russian Jewish

immigrants struggled financially

throughout her childhood but despite

those hardships she always seemed

destined for greatness she had nothing

if not a radiant personality and Oodles

of talent but she also had her demons

even from a young age Cass struggled

with her weight and the stigma that came

along with it in high school she found a

community that allowed her talents to

soar she developed a love for theater

and performing in front of audiences she

came up with a stage name Cass Elliot by

reportedly borrowing from the legendary

Act R Peggy Cass and a friend who had

died this Alter Ego gave her the

confidence to perform what she did with

that new found confidence was risky

having discovered her true Talent Cass

dropped out of high school and moved to

New York to pursue a career in acting

however Broadway wasn’t kind to her

after losing out on a role to the as yet

unknown Barbara strand Cass turned to

singing hoping that music wouldn’t break

her heart like theater had she was

horribly wrong breaking out into music

Cass met with moderate success she

formed two bands between 1962 and 64 the

big three and later the mugwumps in fact

it was while singing with the mugwumps

that she met Denny doerty the man that

she would follow to the ends of the

Earth in the first cruel twist to her

romantic life however she became

unexpectedly unavailable

even though Cass was in love with doerte

she ended up getting hitched to another

one of her bandmates in 1963 Cass

married her mugwumps guitarist James

hris there wasn’t any love between the

two the marriage was a simple

arrangement to help Hendrick Dodge the

draft because her marriage was a sham

Cass knew that her only real tie to

Hendrick was their band so after 8

months the mugwumps split up and Cass

struck out on her own hoping that dote

would follow her instead however he

joined the new Journeymen a band that

consisted of the husband and wife Duo

John and Michelle Phillips Cass was

willing to do anything to get into the

new

band doerte had so far rebuffed Cass as

a lover because of her weight but he

couldn’t deny her talent and he knew

that she was the missing ingredient in

the new journeyman but John Phillips

didn’t want to let Cass in the band

apparent L he thought that her voice was

too deep for his Arrangements in private

however he was singing a different

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tune publicly philli stated that cass’s

voice wasn’t right for the new

journeyman behind closed doors he was

extremely critical of her

appearance Phillips believed that Cass

was simply too heavy to join the group

her already shaky confidence could

barely handle the truth throughout her

life and career cast faced society’s

unfair beauty standards in a time that

celebrated wafer thin women like Audrey

hiitburn Cass felt that she didn’t stand

a

chance despite John Phillips repeated

refusals Cass was desperate to join the

new journeyman to get closer to

doerty according to Michelle Phillips

Cass even followed the band around

everywhere they went what they put her

through was downright

cruel

as she followed them around the new

journeyman treated Cass even worse than

they would have treated an annoying

groupy they ordered her around forced

her to serve them drinks and even teased

her by allowing her to rehearse with

them but not

perform however fortunately for Cass the

tables were about to turn dramatically

in her

favor the new journeyman had a habit of

putting Good Times ahead of their music

spending more money on substances than

on anything else eventually they ran out

of money and had to turn to the only

person they knew who would take them in

Cass desperate for a roof over their

heads they turned up at cass’s Los

Angeles home and she made them an offer

they couldn’t

refuse when the new journeyman showed up

on cass’s doorstep she saw an

opportunity to finally get what she

wanted reportedly Cass took advantage of

the group’s dire

situation whether he liked her size or

not John Phillips had to agree to let

Cass into the band or sleep on the

streets but there’s another version of

the story of how Cass came to be in the

band for years the official story was

that it was fate and not poor money

management that brought Cass and the new

journeyman

together according to this version of

events Cass had accompanied the new

journeyman on a trip to St Thomas in the

Virgin Island Islands while there she

was walking under a construction site

when a pipe fell on her

head Cass was knocked off her feet and

the supposed head injury unbelievably

caused her to sing in the higher

register that John Phillips had been

looking

for the crazy pipe to the head story was

likely just cass’s way of covering up

the embarrassing

truth decades later sources close to the

band revealed that Phillips didn’t want

it leaking out to their fans that he had

essentially fat shamed Cass out of

joining whatever the truth Cass was

finally in the

band after some late night inspiration

they ramed themselves The Mamas and the

Papas then the good time started to

roll with cass’s vocals the band

recorded huge hits like California

dreaman and Monday Munday but even

though she was in the band the teasing

about her weight didn’t stop in fact it

got

worse John and Michelle Phillips along

with doerty openly mocked cass’s weight

in the lyrics of their songs for example

in the band’s hit song Creek alley they

wrote the lyrics no one’s getting fat

except Mama

Cass the insulting lyrics struck a cord

with their fans and much to cass’s

dismay the nickname Mama Cass stuck then

one of her bandmates crossed a

line Cass had really only joined The

Mamas and the Papas because of her

unrequited love for doerty sadly while

Cass had been paining over him he’d been

lusting over someone else in fact the

object of her affection had started up

an affair with the object of her

jealousy Michelle

Phillips when doerty told her that he

was having an affair with Phillips Cass

was left utterly heartbroken and full of

envious

rage the Betrayal left her Crest Fallen

she lamented to Phillips you can have

any man in the world why take the one

man I

love even after Doty had told Cass about

the affair she still held out hope that

one day he might grow to love her

decades later D revealed that Cass had

proposed to him one night but that he

hadn’t answered because he’d been too

intoxicated she buried her woes with The

Mamas and the Papas into her music and a

dangerous amount and array of substances

which led to some wild

[Music]

behavior in 1967 Cass traveled to London

ahead of her bandmates for a scheduled

performance but before long she found

herself on the wrong side of the

[Music]

law the local London authorities

detained Cass for having pilfered bed

linens from the apartment she was

staying in there were rumors however

that they really wanted her for

something far more

[Music]

serious one of cass’s many alleged

lovers was a man named pck Dawson but

she wasn’t the only one interested in

Dawson so were the local

authorities

in addition to possibly being cass’s

Lover he was also her supplier the

authorities in London wanted to use the

accusations against Cass in order to get

to

Dawson she spent a whole night behind

bars in London possibly facing serious

charges however after she appeared

before the magistrate the authorities

dropped the charges against her for lack

of evidence nevertheless the bad press

forced the band to cancel their

scheduled performance her days with the

masam and the Papas were coming to an

abrupt

end with nothing but a broken heart and

insulting lyrics to show for her time

with the band Cass thought about moving

on with the success of her solo

recording of Dream a Little Dream of Me

Cass left The Mamas and the Papas and

struck out on her

own shortly after the band’s breakup she

landed a major gig at Caesar’s Palace in

Las Vegas it was a 3-we sixf figure deal

that would have made Cass the breakout

star from the broken up

band now a solo act Cass felt the

pressure to slim down more intensely

than ever

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before to prepare for her big Las Vegas

debut she adopted a crazy crash diet she

fasted for 4 days a week for 7 months

and lost 1/3 of her

£300 unfortunately for her the

consequences were

painful the diet slimmed her down

significantly but in a cruel twist it

came at a terrible price her health in

the weeks leading up to her first Las

Vegas show Cass developed acute

tonsilitis hemorrhaging vocal cords

mononucleosis and a dangerous case of

hepatitis all thanks to her dangerous

new eating habits

she was Ill prepared for what came

[Music]

next massive stars like Sammy Davis Jr

Jimmy Hendricks and Mia faroh turned up

in Las Vegas to watch cass’s big debut

but thanks to her health conditions

prior to the show she had barely even

rehearsed a single

lyric When Cass finally took to the

stage for her first performance she left

the audience Gob smacked the star

studded crowd eagerly awaited her debut

as a solo artist nervously Cass took to

the stage then fumbled her way through

the performance she was so weak from her

illnesses that her voice was barely

[Music]

audible cass’s contract stipulated that

she would perform two shows a night

after a quick rest she tried to salvage

the show with her second performance but

her voice only got worse and the crowd

only got less

sympathetic the disappointed audience

noisily walked out and Caesar’s Palace

had no choice but to cancel cass’s

contract then they added insult to

injury when the sun rose on her awful

performances the media was unforgiving

Newsweek compared Cassis Vegas debut to

the sinking of the Titanic

she fell into a deep depression but

thankfully she had one bright spot in

her

[Music]

life just before she signed her Las

Vegas contract Cass had given birth to a

healthy baby girl

Owen despite the troubles in her love

life and career Cass was obsessed with

being a good mother she guarded her

daughter fiercely even firing nannies

who grew too

close

to protect her reputation and her

child’s privacy she kept the news out of

the headlines more importantly when the

media found out about her child Cass

staunchly refused to identify the father

that didn’t stop the media from

speculating

wildly however there were even darker

rumors that followed

Cass throughout her career Cass hosted

legendary Hollywood parties with all of

the biggest stars not to mention some

terrible ones as

well Legend has it that Cass had hosted

on at least one occasion the notorious

and noxious cult leader Charles Manson

and his Associates at her

house it’s not clear how close she was

to Manson but she was close enough to

make some people look at her

differently after Manson’s horrific and

brutal Massacre John Phillips point Ed

the finger at Cass he blamed her for

having invited Manson and his followers

into their group he even blamed Cass for

the grizly slaughter that ended Sharon

Tate’s

life thankfully the authorities didn’t

agree with Philip’s

[Music]

assessment with her Las Vegas flop

cass’s solo career stalled but she spent

the next few years making regular

television appearances she even had her

own television variety specials the mama

cast television program and don’t call

me Mama

anymore in her heart however Cass longed

for more than just a middling career she

wanted the one thing that had always

alluded her

love when she least expected it she

found

it in 1971 Cass finally found someone to

call her own it’s not clear how she met

Donald Von venman a journalist and heir

to a Bavarian Barony but it must have

been love at first sight and divorce at

second

site after just 2 months the marriage

was over as quickly as it had

[Music]

begun Cass Elliot continued her

dangerous dieting habits but by

1974 it caught up with her while waiting

backstage at the Johnny Carson show she

unexpectedly collapsed medical staff

rushed her to the hospital but she waved

the incident away as mere

exhaustion my blood sugar level dropped

or something and I just sort of tipped

over but everything was okay yeah

everything was fine she ignored the

warning signs of her waning Health after

her collapse at the Johnny Carson show

she wrapped up two weeks of concert at

the London Palladium then without taking

so much as a catnap she kicked off her

post show celebrations with Mick

Jagger’s 31st birthday party at his

place in

Chelsea Cass left MC Jagger’s party and

went to a brunch hosted by Georgia Brown

in her honor however much to everyone’s

dismay Cass appeared unwell blowing her

nose frequently coughing and having

trouble

breathing nevertheless later that

evening she went to another party hosted

by the American entertainment journalist

Jack Martin her appearance there however

left everyone

[Music]

confused wherever she went Cass was

always the life of the party at Martin’s

party however life appeared to have left

her even though everyone commented that

she seemed to be in good spirits her

sickly looking appearance had everyone

concerned Cass again chalked it up to

exhaustion and decided to head home for

the tonight it would be her final public

appearance Cass returned home to an

apartment owned by Harry Nelson in the

affluent Mayfair neighborhood however

when Cass failed to emerge from her room

the next day her secretary became

suspicious when he finally opened her

bedroom door he was left

devastated he found her lifeless in her

bed she died of an apparent heart attack

but predict ibly the rumor mill

concocted its own version of

events before long everyone was

viciously reporting that Cass had choked

while eating a ham sandwich an obvious

smear against her long-standing struggle

with

obesity four years later The Who drummer

Keith Moon also died in the same bedroom

also at the age of

32

after her passing cass’s daughter went

to live with the singer’s younger sister

Leah it wasn’t until years later however

that Michelle Phillips of all people

finally solved the mystery of cass’s

unknown lover and Owen’s

[Music]

father the father was Chuck day the

second guitarist on hit song’s Monday

Monday in California

Dreaming in October 20 22 Cass was given

a postumus and long overdue star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame attended by her

family and friends including her Mama’s

and Papa’s bandmate Michelle Phillips in

a time when fat phobia was so normalized

that people would make degrading

comments right to her face in front of

millions of people Cass was always going

to struggle more than most people to be

taken seriously and gain the kind of

recognition that her Talent

deserved now ah here is a big lady

bigger in the United States than she is

here an example of the sheer presence

and power of her voice when The Mamas

and Papas reunited for their induction

into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in

98 they performed California Dreaming

and they had to have three backing

singers just to try and make up for

cass’s absence they did not

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