Mama Cass Eliot - Dream a little dream of me - YouTube Mama Cass Eliot - Dream a little dream of me Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Feb 23, 2008 1967 The Mamas and Papas History A biography of the group Individual histories for each member (links at left) John, Michelle, Denny, and Cass. These four names make up the Mamas and the Papas, a signature folk/pop group of the late 1960's whose unique musical style continues to influence many today. They had a unique harmonic blend arranged by John Phillips, the singer and prolific songwriter who headed the group. Michelle Phillips, John's wife, would add a sweet soprano voice to the group. Denny Doherty acted as tenor and lead singer.

Cass Elliot would round out the group with an incredibly rich and powerful voice, used on many solos, and a flamboyant personality which would make the Mamas and Papas even more unique. Below is a history of the group which traces their career as the Mamas and the Papas. For each individual, you can also find their pre- and post-career information by clicking on one of the pictures at left. For an even more interesting and detailed history of how the group came together, be sure and check out the Creeque Alley site of Richard Thorpe which analyzes the group's biographical song "Creeque Alley" in detail. Musical roots Prior to singing together, the members of the group that would become the Mamas and the Papas crossed paths at many points while playing New York and other areas in the folk movement of the early 60's (see individual histories). As the centrality of this movement began to fade and a more electric sound began to gain in popularity, John, Michelle, and Denny (who by that time had come together as a group) took off to the Virgin Islands for a time away from the New York scene and a chance to seek new musical direction.

(John being the principal songwriter and leader of the group). Cass, who had yet to join with the group because of resistance from John based on her ability to blend with the others, followed them down to St. Thomas Island and the bar at Creeque Alley called Duffy's where much of their new music would take shape. It was on the island, therefore, that the four members of the group first sang together and began to solidify their harmony and sound. John came up with a whole new style of folk-pop music. Even by this point, however, the four were not officially a group and Cass finally left for California. Just after her departure, John and the rest also had to leave, not so much by choice but by the request of the governor of the island who had begun to find their presence intrusive. Upon the return to New York, it was evident that the trio no longer had a place in the music scene and it seemed time to leave for a more "happening" area. This time it was John, Michelle, and Denny who followed Cass to California where they met up with her and, through connections she had made, were able to audition as a group for producer Lou Adler.

The Mamas and Papas are born This would be the official start of the group. Lou Adler was amazed by their talent and offered them almost anything they wanted if they would begin recording under the Dunhill label. With cash, a car, and a home now available, the foursome quickly solidified their new sound. All they lacked was a name which, when it came, arose from an appropriately counter-culture source. While watching television, Cass and Michelle learned that the biker gang the Hell's Angels referred to their women as "mamas". They both began referring to themselves in this way. It followed naturally for the two guys to be "papas" and thus the name was born. It also served to emphasize that they were the first fully sexually integrated singing group of the era. First recordings The first recordings the group made together was actually as the back-up singers on Barry McGuire's album This Precious Time. It included a version of John's "California Dreamin'" which the Mamas and Papas recorded as a single as well.

Another single set for release was also held back, so the true recording debut of the Mamas and Papas, therefore, can said to have been the release of "California Dreamin'" in November 1965. The record was received quite enthusiastically, making its way up to the # 4 position. This release was followed in January 1966 by their first number one hit "Monday, Monday". These and other John Phillip's hits would also appear on their first album released that March called If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears which was received with much praise. Many of its songs would be released as singles. Disharmony The internal strife that would plague the group were already evident at this point, however. Despite the fact that John and Michelle were married, it had been obvious from the start that she and Denny were attracted to each other. This attraction would soon lead to an ongoing affair of which John was vaguely aware. Cass's unrequited feelings for Denny did not help in this dynamic as a jealousy grew between her and Michelle. This pressure and distrust was chronicled in their next single release called "I Saw Her Again Last Night".

In the midst of these problems, the group would continue recording and went on to release yet another album The Mamas and the Papas in August 1966 which included that song and others written by John. Very soon thereafter, however, the tension between John and Michelle would become so invasive and the affair between her and Denny so evident that John used his control to fire Michelle from the group. She was quickly replaced with Jill Gibson (producer Lou Adler's girlfriend at the time) and they even designed a new cover for their album which would replace Michelle's picture with Jill's. After only a little bit of touring, however, it was evident that this change in membership was not accepted by the fans. Michelle was eventually invited back by the end of the year. The Monterey interlude As one could imagine, the group dynamic remained tense after this point, but the group did continue to record. Their next album Deliver would be released in February 1967 which would include the single "Creeque Alley" chronicling their beginning. This would be followed by one of the major events of the period which the Mamas and Papas were instrumental in creating.

Working with a variety of friends in the music industry, they (principally John) put together a festival of music in Monterey (near San Francisco) in June 1967 which became known as the Monterey Pop Festival. It was a seminal event, one of the first large non-profit, "youth generation" concerts of its time and an evident predecessor of Woodstock. It would bring together both old and new talent such as Simon and Garfunkel, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, The Who, and others. The Mamas and Papas were the headliner group and it seemed that they were on their way to even bigger stardom. The Golden Era ends Despite this appearance on stage, the group itself was having serious problems. Denny spent much of the time prior to the festival away and barely showed up to sing at it. With tensions in the group so high, John felt that they were losing their edge and wanted to take some time away to recapture what they had once had as a group by taking a trip abroad together.

This explains the release of a greatest hits compilation at the time called Farewell to the First Golden Era with which the studio hoped to fill in the expected gap. The trip itself would be a disaster from the start, however, with the arrest and accusation of the members for drugs and other offenses. The supposed time away for renewing ties and regaining the Mamas and Papas magic was quickly cut short. Upon their return, the group began on what could be called the final "true" Mamas and the Papas album. Entitled The Papas and the Mamas, it was released in April 1968. By the time of its release, however, the members of the group had reached the decision to break up. Anxious to have a continued hit maker, the studio released the next two singles "Midnight Voyage" and "Dream a Little Dream of Me" in June under the name of Mama Cass with the Mamas and the Papas, hoping to boost Cass's emerging solo career. With the break up of the group, the members would begin their own solo careers (see individual histories at left). The marketing of their music would continue, however, with a number of greatest hits releases appearing almost right away.

The year 1970 would also see the release of their live recording from the Monterey Pop Festival. People Like Us The following year, with the switch of their label to ABC, the members of the group were contacted by the corporation's lawyers to say that they were under contractual obligation to produce one last album as the Mamas and the Papas. Though the four did come together for this purpose, most people (including the foursome themselves) found the attempt to be half-hearted and lacking. Though the harmonies still existed, the album hardly compares to the group's previous work. Nevertheless, this last official album by the Mamas and Papas called People Like Us was released in October 1971. The legend lives on The Mamas and the Papas would never record together again as a group. Cass's death in 1974 made that an undeniable reality. Nevertheless, John would eventually bring together several singers to recreate the new Mamas and Papas as a touring group, singing old classics and a few newer songs. They would release a few concert albums as well. This fact only serves to demonstrate the continued popularity of the group who had endeared themselves to many fans.

It was no surprise when the original Mamas and Papas were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. The music they created remains popular to this day. Mama Cass Death Rumors : snopes.com - - Claim: "Mama" Cass Elliot of The Mamas and the Papas choked to death on a ham sandwich. Status: False. Origins: Although many rumors swirled in the wake of the sudden death of 33-year-old "Mama" Cass Eliot on 29 July 1974 (e.g., that she died from a drug overdose, that FBI had plotted to assassinate her, that she was pregnant with John Lennon's child), the one that has become permanently entwined with her image is that she choked to death on a ham sandwich.

The legend has a particularly cruel irony in that Cass Eliot's weight was fodder for many brutish jokes about her physical appearance, and the choking rumor fostered the impression that she had somehow brought death upon herself through her "gluttony." Even the minor details of the rumor were unkind to her legend: She supposedly choked to death on a sandwich (a cheap, pedestrian form of food), and the main ingredient of that sandwich was ham (which comes from pigs, an animal to whom overweight people are frequently likened). According to the biography Dream a Little Dream of Me, it was Dr. Anthony Greenburgh, the first physician to examine Cass Eliot after her death, who mistakenly sowed the seeds of the "choked on a ham sandwich" legend: Greenburgh immediately offered a straightforward explanation for Cass's death. His first impression, he told the press, was that it appeared to have been a simple case of asphyxia. "From what I saw when I got to the flat," he told the Daily Express, "she appeared to have been eating a ham sandwich and drinking Coca-Cola while lying down — a very dangerous thing to do.

This would be especially dangerous for someone like Cass who was overweight and who might be prone to having a heart attack. She seemed to have choked on a ham sandwich," he continued, unwittingly giving rise to the myth that would still be circulation more than three decades later. What Greenburgh had presumably overlooked is the small but pertinent fact that the sandwich by Cass's bed had not in fact been touched (as recorded by Inspector Kenneth Humm once the police were called). The official findings of the coroner's inquest were that Cass Eliot died from "fatty myocardial degeneration due to obesity" (i.e., a heart attack brought about by fatty degeneration of the heart muscle fiber), and nothing was found to have been blocking her mouth or throat. Cass Elliot had long been overweight and more than once undertook crash diets to lose a large amount of weight in a relatively short period of time; the prolonged, combined effects of obesity and severe dieting had weakened her heart to the point of failure. Sightings: Look for a mention of this legend in the 1997 film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and in the 1996 film Beautiful Thing .

Last updated: 19 January 2007 Cass Elliot - Biography - IMDb Cass Elliot Jump to: Overview (4) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (2) | Trivia (26) | Personal Quotes (4) Overview (4) 5' 5" (1.65 m) Mini Bio (1) 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, 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 seeking a college education in pursuit of a career, Cass forged ahead in the performing arts. 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 Willson 's "The Music Man." Elliot also produced a play at Cafe La Mama in New York. However, by early 1963 she had met up with Tim Rose and John Brown and formed a folk trio initially dubbed The Triumvirate, but later known as The Big 3 when Brown was replaced by James Hendricks. The Big 3 were a progressive and innovative folk trio who recorded two albums and made appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), Hootenanny (1963) and The Danny Kaye Show (1963). In 1964 the group had begun to fall apart and it metamorphosized into a foursome called "Cass Elliot and The Big Three" which included Canadians Denny Doherty and Zal Yanovsky (Rose had left at this point). Soon this foursome became The Mugwumps who operated out of The Shadows nightclub in Washington. They released a single for Warner Brothers and stayed together through the end of 1964, until they, too, began to disintegrate. Cass began to work as a solo single in Washington, D.C.

At this point Doherty had joined John Phillips 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 to 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 her 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 Pufnstuf (1970) and recorded an album with rock singer Dave Mason . Recently, the issue of the soundtrack of Monte Walsh (1970) turned up four different versions of her theme song, "The Good Times Are Coming", composed by John Barry and Hal David . 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 1970s 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 Three and Mugwumps member Jim Hendricks and second to Baron Donald von Wiedenman (1971). In 1974, she traveled to London where she had a two-week engagement at the London Palladium. After performing to sellout crowds and basking in repeated ovations, Cass tragically succumbed to a heart attack on July 29, 1974 in London, following this successful concert tour (and NOT, as is commonly believed, from choking on a sandwich). 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. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Richard Barton Campbell/Rbcsoup@aol.com Spouse (2) Trivia (26) Born at 9:0pm-EDT An urban legend arose that she died choking on a ham sandwich because a partially eaten ham sandwich was found by her bed.

When police were asked the cause of death prior to an autopsy, they speculated that she either died of a heart attack or choked to death on a ham sandwich, but she officially died of a heart attack. The autopsy revealed that a full third of her heart muscle had degenerated; bandmate Denny Doherty said later "Cassie literally died of a broken heart.". Buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California - Court of Tanach, Lot 5000, Grave 2F. Recording six albums after she went solo, she teamed briefly (and unsuccessfully) in 1971 with musician Dave Mason . Her sister, Leah Kunkel , became the legal guardian of her daughter, Owen Elliot-Kugell (born in on 26 April 1967), upon her death in 1974. Hated being called 'Mama' Cass, which she took as a derogatory comment on her 300+ poundage. Additionally, it bothered her that the moniker led many to mistakenly assume Cass was her last name. She once guest hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962).

A member of the folk group "The Mugwumps" before hitting it big, she married one of its members, James Hendricks , to help him avoid the draft. The marriage was never consummated and was later annulled. She actually preferred classical music, jazz and Broadway show tunes to rock. She auditioned for the "Miss Marmelstein" stage role in "I Can Get It for You Wholesale" but lost out to Barbra Streisand . She was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with the other Mamas and Papas, in 1998. Her award was accepted by her daughter, Owen Elliot-Kugell . Mother of Owen Elliot-Kugell , whose father's name she never revealed to anyone. Michelle Phillips helped Owen find her biological father. Posed nude for Cheetah magazine. Her last appearance on American television was on the quiz show Celebrity Sweepstakes (1974). Ranked #23 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock N Roll Is credited with helping to assemble the bands The Lovin' Spoonful and Crosby Stills Nash & Young . Had an IQ of 165.

Died in the same room, No. 12 at 9 Curzon Place in London, where The Who drummer Keith Moon died four years later. Musician Harry Nilsson was the leaseholder; after Moon's death, Nilsson sold the lease. Older sister of Leah Kunkel . Assumed the surname Elliot in memory of a dead friend. The Crosby Stills & Nash Greatest Hits album was dedicated to her (2005). The Mamas & the Papas | Biography & History | AllMusic The Mamas & the Papas Biography by Bruce Eder A four-piece folk act whose high harmonies and blend of easygoing, trippy originals with nicely stylized covers virtually soundtracked the late '60s. google+ Artist Biography by Bruce Eder The leading California-based vocal group of the '60s, the Mamas & the Papas epitomized the ethos of the mid- to late-'60s pop culture: live free, play free, and love free. Their music, built around radiant harmonies and a solid electric folk foundation, was gorgeous on its own terms, but a major part of its appeal lay in the easygoing southern California lifestyle it endorsed.

The group's success was as extraordinary as it was brief, and onlookers may well wonder what went wrong with a performing group that seemed to have the world at its feet for all of two years. The irony behind the Mamas & the Papas ' story is that the same forces that made it possible for them to create extraordinary music together also made it impossible for them to stay together for more than a short time. The group's founder and de facto leader, John Phillips , born in 1935, was actually quite a bit older than most of the figures who emerged as rock stars during the middle and late 1960s. He was more of Elvis Presley 's generation, the product of a chaotic home life with a difficult childhood and adolescence, and seemed to be headed for life as a low-level delinquent until he was scared straight, and then had been headed for the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD. In the background, however, was music, the guitar, and the sounds of Elvis Presley , the Platters , Teresa Brewer , and everyone else charting records in the mid-'50s.

He eventually entered music professionally, while his first marriage produced two children (one of them future actress MacKenzie Phillips ). Phillips ' first music forays moved from pop to soft jazz and finally into folk music, through groups such as the Smoothies and the Journeymen . The latter group, a trio with Dick Weissman and Scott McKenzie , was one of the most promising small ensembles of the early-'60s folk music boom, but it never connected with the public despite being signed to Capitol Records -- in fairness, the label already had the Kingston Trio , and Phillips ' group was perhaps just a little behind the curve of where public taste and radio programming were heading. Ultimately, Phillips ' first marriage ended, as did the Journeymen , but his attempts at musical success continued. Phillips formed the New Journeymen with future screenwriter Marshall Brickman and a young model and singer named Michelle Gilliam ; they didn't succeed any better, but Phillips and Gilliam married and they also started to write songs. One that they composed jointly during this period was a catchy tune with some potential that expressed an idealized vision.

Meanwhile, working in a different realm of the musical spectrum was a Baltimore-born singer named Cassandra Elliot , who had become a big fish in a small pond -- though Cass Elliot would have been the first to say that she was a pretty big fish in any pond -- as part of New York's off-Broadway theater scene, and had made some noise in touring productions of The Music Man. She's moved into folk music in partnership with Tim Rose -- himself an ex-associate of the Smoothies . They worked as two-thirds of a trio called the Triumverate, whose third spot was subsequently filled by Nebraska-born folksinger James Hendricks . This group eventually became the Big 3 and hit it big at New York's Bitter End, and from there went on to a brief flurry of recording activity that yielded two LPs, a handful of singles, and a brace of television commercials.

Eventually, the Big 3 evolved into the Mugwumps , whose ranks included Elliot , Hendricks , Zal Yanovsky , John Sebastian , and Denny Doherty , a veteran of the Colonials in the early '60s, who later rechristened themselves the Halifax Three -- Doherty and Elliot , who were pretty impressive on their own, made a dazzling pair of voices together. The Mugwumps seemed to be on the edge of a new sound, mixing electric instruments played with ever more emphasis on folk-based material -- this was concurrent with the West Coast activities of Roger McGuinn , Gene Clark , and David Crosby in the Byrds -- but could never quite put together a sound that sold, even to the record labels, much less the public. They were foundering when Phillips decided to reactivate his trio as the New Journeymen and, with Brickman gone, recruited Doherty to sing some shows down in Washington, D.C. All of the pieces were almost all together in the closing days of 1964. Meanwhile, Cass Elliot was paying her bills by singing jazz, in Washington, D.C., no less.

The New Journeymen might have gone it alone, except that Doherty brought his fellow members to see her perform. The quartet fell into place despite some resistance from John Phillips over Elliot 's sheer size as well as her strong personality and (supposedly) her voice. Following a few ups and downs in personalities, a trip to the Caribbean (as immortalized later by the song "Creeque Alley"), an accident that suddenly had Elliot hitting what Phillips said were the right notes, and some acid use and drug experimentation along the way, they all headed west in search of success.

The group headed to California late in 1965 and was turned down by ex- Kingston Trio manager Frank Werber , whose group the We Five -- with a vaguely similar sound to Phillips and company -- was scoring big with its version of Sylvia Fricker 's "You Were on My Mind." At the suggestion of Barry McGuire , late of the New Christy Minstrels and an old friend of Elliot 's, who was just coming off of his biggest hit, "Eve of Destruction" on Dunhill Records, the quartet auditioned for Lou Adler , the head of the label -- their audition consisted of "California Dreamin'," "Monday, Monday," and many of the other songs that ended up comprising their debut album. Adler signed them on the spot and their debut single, "California Dreamin'," was out by the start of 1966 and shooting up the charts, with their album If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears coming up behind it. That album was one of the finest examples of what later became known as "sunshine pop," and it's still one of the best harmony vocal showcases in 1960s music.

In addition to the two hit singles, "California Dreamin'" and "Monday, Monday," listeners could luxuriate in the radiant splendors of "Go Where You Wanna Go," "Got a Feeling," and eight more unabashed gems, and they reciprocated by lofting it to the number one spot on the charts and keeping it among the top-selling albums in the country for months. Sadly, this would also mark the Mamas & the Papas ' high watermark as an album act; they would never again release any long-player quite as consistent in terms of quality and inventiveness. Even before it was recorded, the unity of the group and its sound, and the foursome's reasons for working as group (which had been cultivated for a year) were jeopardized by the overlapping romantic attractions between the members -- John and Michelle Phillips were married, but that didn't stop Doherty , who'd already been the object of Elliot 's affections, from pairing off with Michelle Phillips and, in the process, engendering stress and distrust all around.

Stresses also arose as Michelle Phillips became involved for a time with Gene Clark , the principal composer, co-founder, and lead singer with the Byrds -- worse yet, she ended up being accused of disloyalty to the group for her public displays of attraction to Clark and was finally, at one point, fired. There was an attempt to replace her with Jill Gibson during the recording of their self-titled second album during the summer of 1966, and to this day the actual personnel on various songs from that album remains a matter of conjecture. Ironically, even as their internal lineup was disrupted for a time -- Michelle Phillips was back in the ranks by the time of the album's release -- the group's studio sound was honed to a fine point. The first album had used a brace of top session people, including Glen Campbell and P.F.

Sloan on guitars and Bud Shank on flute, but by the spring of 1966 it had solidified around guitarist Eric Hord and the established Los Angeles session players Larry Knechtel on keyboards, Joe Osborne on bass, and Hal Blaine on drums (usually referred to as "the Wrecking Crew"), all being coordinated by John Phillips , engineer Bones Howe , and label chief Lou Adler . Both the band's tracks and the quartet's vocals were meticulously worked out separately and merged in the final mix, which could go as deep as 16 tracks, unheard of in pop recording in 1966. The mix of hands didn't conflict at all -- rather, on the Mamas & the Papas ' recordings, they resulted in the illusion of a self-contained group that was playing as well as singing.

Their records held up unbelievably well, on the radio or heard at home, and they seemed to move from triumph to triumph, the first two singles giving way to "I Saw Her Again" and "Words of Love," then "Dedicated to the One I Love," "Creeque Alley," and "Look Through My Window," all of which turned up on their third album, Deliver , which was sort of an "in" joke in its title, coinciding with the birth of Cass Elliot 's daughter. Good as their second and third albums were, however, things were never quite the same for the group after that bout of disunity in the first half of 1966. They'd arrived in Los Angeles in relative innocence, essentially four happy people who were happy just to be singing together, but the intermingling of affections tainted that; although resolving the initial problems had allowed them to keep working together, the motivation soon became a matter of protecting the success they were enjoying -- in essence, they were in it for the money, the prestige, and the stardom, as much as and perhaps more than the sheer joy of the singing and of seeing what they could accomplish.

This was understandable as, for the first time, they were all making huge amounts of money from their music and were at the center of the musicians' colony in L.A., as well as nearly as well-known nationally as the Beatles . Indeed, their appeal was remarkably similar to that of the Liverpool quartet, in that both groups involved four distinct and well-known personalities. John Phillips was the pop guru, the main if not exclusive songwriter and producer and architect of their sound, and had the kind of persona that younger female listeners looked to almost as a fatherly figure (with, admittedly, some incestuous overtones in that context) or, in the context of the times, a romantic professorial figure, a guru who evoked libidinal urges. Denny Doherty was the alluring male voice that made women's hearts flutter and looked the part of hippie/romantic, playing the same role in the Mamas & the Papas that Gene Clark played vocally and Michael Clark played visually in the original Byrds .

Michelle Phillips was the raving beauty, capable of stopping air traffic with just the hint of a smile or a glimmer of libidinal interest in her eyes, who most girls over 13 wanted to be like and most guys over 16, in John Phillips ' own words, "wanted to do." And Cass Elliot was the hippie Earth Mother with a heart of gold and a glorious voice. Psychically and in terms of image, they were the ready-made core of a hippie commune on any turntable. The irony was that Phillips was a member of Elvis Presley 's generation and had been in music longer than many of the group's younger listeners had been alive -- ten years earlier, he could've been an aspiring member of the Four Freshmen . He'd reinvented himself with a few changes in visual style and his songwriting, and enjoyed his moment in the sun a decade later than his contemporaries such as Presley , Dion , Bobby Darin , et al.

And for all of the idealism of their songs, there was a lot of hedonism present -- Phillips and Doherty (whose voice and looks drew women like moths to a flame) enjoyed access to every fleshly pleasure there was to be had in late-'60s California; Michelle Phillips was no slouch in that pursuit herself, as well as being one of those fleshly pleasures herself, while Cass Elliot loved the role of Earth Mother and hippie Queen of Hearts, surrounded by admirers. She may have played as powerful an indirect role on American music as John Phillips , helping facilitate the birth of Crosby, Stills & Nash by bringing that trio together under one roof -- it was a long way from The Music Man or The Boy Friend, stock and touring performances, or her father's delicatessen. In the late spring of 1967, John Phillips ' influence on popular culture reached its zenith when he and Lou Adler , with Michelle Phillips , Al Kooper , and a lot of others assisting, organized the Monterey International Pop Festival.

The first and most renowned (musically) of all the rock festivals of the 1960s, the event launched the careers of dozens of mostly San Francisco-based acts nationally and beyond, including those of Jimi Hendrix , Janis Joplin , the Electric Flag , and Phillips ' old friend and Journeymen bandmate Scott McKenzie . In honor of the festival, Phillips had written a song called "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)," which he gave to McKenzie to record as his solo debut on Adler 's new Ode Records label; precisely why he didn't give it to his own group, except perhaps for the fact that they weren't recording or even working at the time, has never been clear, but McKenzie enjoyed a Top Five hit and was suddenly in almost as much demand as the Mamas & the Papas . By that time, the group even had a rival of sorts, at least in the public perception, in the guise of Spanky & Our Gang , a Chicago-based outfit with folk roots and impeccable vocals built around a powerful female singer, though they were a little wider-ranging in their repertory and placed more emphasis on comedy and a certain theatricality in their presentation.

Monterey marked the last great hurrah for Phillips and the Mamas & the Papas as musical influences. The group had closed the festival, Doherty barely arriving in time for the performance, which was later released as the sole official example of their live performances; even the group's appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show had involved extensive lip-syncing to existing tracks, and in all honesty their studio sound, because of the way it was built up in two separate, perfect layers that were merged, was very difficult to re-create on stage. At the same time, they'd run through the best part of their repertory on those three LPs and 36 songs, and most of their enthusiasm was spent as well. John and Michelle Phillips built a studio of their own where their fourth album, The Papas & the Mamas , was recorded, and although there were some new sounds embodied in the work and some hits included (most notably the radiant, sadness-tinged "Twelve-Thirty"), the group's days were numbered; precisely how numbered they were was revealed by the release of the single "Dream a Little Dream of Me" as a Cass Elliot solo single.

The world had also changed in the two and a half years since the group emerged. By 1968, assassinations, the dragging on of the Vietnam War, and the festering political wounds that the war engendered (and the underfunding of Lyndon Johnson's concurrent "War on Poverty" due to the United States' ongoing Vietnam involvement) were eating into the fabric of society at every level; things were getting ugly, or at least serious, and John Phillips ' Pied Piper-like presence, beckoning people to California and an idealized quasi-hippie lifestyle, seemed increasingly out of touch with older teenagers and college students' sympathies. They were magnificent songs, to be sure -- "Twelve-Thirty" was a stunning, bittersweet ode to California's beauty, both natural and in the guise of "young girls coming to the canyon," though as gorgeous as the group's version was, Scott McKenzie 's solo rendition offered a poignancy that gives the song some unexpectedly serious overtones, at least in mood, while "Creeque Alley" is one of the funniest and catchiest autobiographical songs of the 1960s.

By 1969, the Mamas & the Papas were history, victims of changing times, emotional exhaustion, and an excess of sexual, chemical, and alcoholic pleasures. Cass Elliot was the first to emerge in her own right, her larger-than-life image lending itself to pop stardom and her musical ability being the most solid on a solo basis -- she had a big voice and she'd also acted professionally, which made her a natural, whether recording solo or in tandem with Dave Mason . Her first venture into performing solo, in Las Vegas, was disastrous, but by the early '70s she was on an even keel, hosting and performing on music-oriented television shows such as The Ray Stevens Show and Get It Together as well as her own specials, and also appearing in the movie H.R. Pufnstuf. John Phillips did a solo album, The Wolf King of L.A. , that was well received critically but a commercial disaster, and Denny Doherty 's solo albums disappeared quickly as well.

Michelle Phillips concentrated on raising her and John 's daughter, Chynna Phillips , and saw some brief activity as a recording artist, but it was as an actress that she kept the most busy, distinguishing herself dramatically in John Milius ' excellent period film Dillinger (1973). The group did reunite in the studio early in the decade to record one album, People Like Us , to help fulfill its contract; conversely, there were also lawsuits by John Phillips against his former label over unpaid royalties, which dragged on for years. The most notable event surrounding the group, however, was the tragic death of Cass Elliot on July 29, 1974. From that day forward, the notion of any reunion or revival of the group was little more than the organizing of a "ghost band," even when John Phillips organized such groups (most notably in 1982 with Doherty , while his actress/singer daughter MacKenzie and Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane , formerly of Spanky & Our Gang , filled the women's spots) to play the oldies circuit and recycle the vintage repertory.

Much more interesting was an appearance that Phillips made at New York's Bitter End in 1983, playing solo -- he had spent most of the 1970s coping with various drug problems, and even in his prime had never performed solo, and there he was at a leading performing venue, armed with nothing but an acoustic guitar (and a surprise special guest, Scott McKenzie ). This apparent effort at reactivating Phillips ' career was overlooked by most of the press, however, and quickly forgotten. The group's appeal, however, has lingered, as reflected in its induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. There have been multiple reissues of their original four LPs, in widely varying quality (especially in America), culminating in 2001 with the release of All the Leaves Are Brown , a compilation of their complete 1960s studio recordings.

The death of John Phillips on March 18 of that year would seem to have ended any but the most exploitative reincarnations of the group -- in 2003, however, Denny Doherty , who had toured with a version of " the Mamas & the Papas ," premiered the autobiographical stage musical Dream a Little Dream of Me, in which he also starred, in New York. Astonishingly, given their two-and-a-half-year principal history, there have also been four books dealing with the group's history. Taken together, Papa John by John Phillips (with Jim Jerome) and California Dreamin': The True Story of the Mamas and the Papas -- The Music, the Madness, the Magic by Michelle Phillips (both 1986) form a he-said/she-said account of events, with John Phillips taking the prize for depth between the two of them. More recently, Doug Hall's The Mamas and the Papas: California Dreamin' was published, and in 2002 Matthew Greenwald 's Go Where You Wanna Go: The Oral History of the Mamas and the Papas appeared.

Reading any of them is a fascinating, eye-opening, and potentially disillusioning look behind the supposed idealism of the 1960s. Dream a Little Dream of Me - The Mamas & the Papas | Song Info | AllMusic Dream a Little Dream of Me google+ Song Review by Matthew Greenwald What should have been the last great Mamas & Papas single, "Dream a Little Dream" is a cover of the 1940s hit for Frankie Laine. The song came to be cut by the Mamas when John Phillips, Michelle Phillips, and Michelle's father were hanging out in early 1968, and began talking about the recent death of one of the song's writers, Favian Andre. (Andre had been a friend of Michelle's father while he was in Mexico.) And so, due to the fact that the Mamas were "always scamming for material," according to Michelle, John Phillips proceeded to work up a brilliant, old-timey arrangement that fit the group's style like a glove.

A folksy, fingerpicking guitar arrangement is the core here, and singer Cass Elliot's fabulous performance (complete with scat whistling) creates a sound that feels like one of the group's originals. The song was released as an album cut on the band's fourth record. As the group was breaking up, Dunhill Records released it as a Mama Cass solo single, "featuring the Mamas & the Papas." It was a huge hit; a great start for Elliott's solo career, and a classy end (despite the confusion of the billing of the release) for the actual band. Appears On Mama Cass - Cass Eliott- Jewish Entertainment - Jew Watch News Cass Elliot with Tim Rose and James Hendricks as part of the Big Three Solo career While working as a cloakroom attendant at The Showplace in Greenwich Village, Elliot would sometimes sing, but it wasn't until Mama Cass Elliot returned to the Washington area, to attend American University, that Mama Cass Elliot began to pursue a singing career. As America's folk music scene was on the rise, Elliot met banjoist and singer Tim Rose and singer John Brown, and the three began performing as The Triumvirate.

In 1963, James Hendricks replaced Brown and the trio was renamed The Big Three. Elliot's first recording with The Big Three was Winkin', Blinkin' and Nod, was released by FM Records in 1963. When Tim Rose left The Big Three in 1964, Elliot and Hendricks teamed with Canadians Zal Yanovsky and Denny Doherty as The Mugwumps. This group lasted eight months, after which Cass performed as a solo act for a while. Yanovsky joined with John Sebastian to co-found The Lovin' Spoonful while Doherty joined The New Journeymen, a group that also included John Phillips and his wife, Michelle. In 1965, Doherty convinced Phillips that Cass should join the group. Mama Cass Elliot did so while Mama Cass Elliot and the group members were vacationing in the Virgin Islands. A popular legend about Elliot is that her vocal range was improved by three notes after Mama Cass Elliot was hit on the head by some copper tubing shortly before joining The New Journeymen in the Virgin Islands.

Elliot herself confirmed the story in a 1968 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, saying, "It�s true, I did get hit on the head by a pipe that fell down and my range was increased by three notes. They were tearing this club apart in the islands, revamping it, putting in a dance floor. Workmen dropped a thin metal plumbing pipe and it hit me on the head and knocked me to the ground. I had a concussion and went to the hospital. I had a bad headache for about two weeks and all of a sudden I was singing higher. It�s true. Honest to God.[2] "However, friends later said that the pipe story was a less embarrassing explanation for why John Phillips had kept her out of the group for so long, the real reason being, he considered her too fat.[3] The Mamas and the Papas With two female members, The New Journeymen needed a new name. According to Doherty, Elliot had the inspiration for the band's new name, as Doherty wrote on his website: We're all just lying around vegging out watching TV and discussing names for the group.

The New Journeymen was not a handle that was going to hang on this outfit. John was pushing for The Magic Cyrcle. Eech, but none of us could come up with anything better, then we switch the channel and, hey, it's the Hells Angels on this talk show... And the first thing we hear is: "Now hold on there, Hoss. Some people call our women cheap, but we just call them our Mamas." Cass jumped up: "Yeah! I want to be a Mama." And Michelle is going: "We're the Mamas! We're the Mamas!" OK. I look at John. He's looking at me going: "The Papas?" Problem solved. A toast! To The Mamas and the Papas. Well, after many, many toasts, Cass and John are passed out."[4] "Doherty also says that the occasion marked the beginning of his affair with Michelle Phillips. Elliot, who was in love with Doherty, was displeased when he told her of the affair. Doherty has said that Mama Cass Elliot once proposed to him, but that he was so stoned at the time, he could not even respond.

Elliot, known for her sense of humor and optimism, was considered by some to be the most charismatic member of the group. Her powerful, distinctive voice was a large factor in their success. Mama Cass Elliot is best remembered for her vocals on the group's hits "California Dreamin',""Monday Monday," and "Words of Love," and particularly for the solo "Dream a Little Dream of Me," which the group recorded in 1968 after learning about the death of Fabian Andre, one of the men who co-wrote it, whom Michelle Phillips had met years earlier. Elliot's version is noteworthy for its contemplative pace, whereas almost all earlier recordings of "Dream a Little Dream of Me" (including one by Nat King Cole) had been up-tempo versions�the song having actually been written in 1931 as a dance tune for the nightclubs of the day. The Mamas & the Papas continued to record to meet the terms of their record contract until their final album was released in 1971. Photo from the special Don't Call Me Mama Anymore. After the breakup of The Mamas & the Papas, Elliot embarked on a solo singing career.

Her most successful recording during this period was 1968's Dream a Little Dream of Me from her solo album of the same name , released by Dunhill Records though it had originally been released on the album The Papas & the Mamas Presented By The Mamas and the Papas earlier that year. Mama Cass Elliot headlined briefly in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace for $ 40,000 per week, but her performances were not well reviewed. Elliot had two television variety specials: The Mama Cass Television Show (ABC, 1969) and Don't Call Me Mama Anymore (CBS, 1973). Mama Cass Elliot was a regular guest on TV talk shows and variety shows in the 1970s, including The Julie Andrews Hour , The Mike Douglas Show , The Andy Williams Show , Hollywood Squares , The Johnny Cash Show , The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour , and The Carol Burnett Show and was a guest panelist for a week on the game show Match Game '73 . Mama Cass Elliot guest-hosted for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show and appeared on that show 13 other times.

Mama Cass Elliot also appeared on and co-hosted The Music Scene on ABC and was featured on the first The Midnight Special on NBC. Mama Cass Elliot performed in Saga of Sonora, a 1973 TV music-comedy-western special with Jill St. John , Vince Edwards , Zero Mostel , and Lesley Ann Warren . Mama Cass Elliot also sang the jingle "Hurry on down to Hardee's, where the burgers are charco-broiled" for Hardee's fast-food advertisements. Throughout the early 1970s, Elliot continued her acting career as well. Mama Cass Elliot had a featured role in the 1970 movie Pufnstuf and made guest appearances on TV's The New Scooby-Doo Movies , Young Dr. Kildare , Love, American Style , and The Red Skelton Show , among others. Family and death Elliot was married twice, the first time in 1963 to James Hendricks, her groupmate in The Big Three and The Mugwumps.

This was reportedly a platonic arrangement to assist him in avoiding being drafted into the army during the Vietnam War ; [5] the marriage reportedly was never consummated and was annulled in 1968. [6] In 1971, Elliot married journalist Baron Donald von Wiedenman [7] [8] who was heir to a Bavarian barony . Their marriage ended in divorce after a few months. Elliot gave birth to a daughter, Owen Vanessa Elliot, on April 26, 1967. Mama Cass Elliot never publicly identified the father, but many years later, Michelle Phillips helped Owen locate her biological father. [9] Owen grew up to become a singer as well and toured with Beach Boy Al Jardine . [10] At the height of her solo career in 1974, Elliot performed two weeks of sold-out concerts at the London Palladium . Mama Cass Elliot telephoned Michelle Phillips after the final concert on July 28, elated that Mama Cass Elliot had received standing ovations each night. Mama Cass Elliot then retired for the evening, and died in her sleep at age 32.

Sources state her death was due to a heart attack . [11] [12] Elliot died in a London flat, No. 12 at 9 Curzon Place, Mama Cass Elliotpherd Market , Mayfair , which was on loan from singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson . Four years later, The Who 's drummer Keith Moon died in the same flat at the same age. [13] Elliot was entombed in Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles . After her death, Elliot's younger sister, Leah Kunkel, received custody of Cass' daughter Owen, then just seven years old. Kunkel is also a singer and charted in 1984 as a member of the Coyote Sisters on the single "Straight From The Heart (Into Your Life)". Kunkel was interviewed by VH1 in 1997 and discussed her sister for the "Mamas & Papas" episode of the network's documentary series Behind The Music . An oft-repeated urban legend states that Elliot choked to death on a ham sandwich. [14] The story, which started following the discovery of her body, was based on speculation in the initial media coverage.

Police had told reporters that a partially eaten sandwich found in her room might have been to blame, though an autopsy had yet to be conducted. Despite the post-mortem examination finding that Elliot had died of a heart attack and no food at all was found in her windpipe , [12] the false story that Mama Cass Elliot choked on a sandwich has persisted in the decades following her death. In fact Elliot had lost 80 pounds (36 kg) in the eight months before her death by fasting four days a week. Her fatal heart attack was most likely related to this extreme weightloss measure. [15] Tributes and other popular culture references The song "Mama, I Remember You Now" by the Swedish artist Marit Bergman is a tribute to Elliot. Mama Cass Elliot was the subject of a 2004 stage production in Dublin, [16] The Songs of Mama Cass, with Kristin Kapelli performing main vocals. The Crosby, Stills & Nash Greatest Hits album released in 2005 was dedicated to Cass Elliot. The British film Beautiful Thing heavily features her recordings, and the memory of her plays a role in the life of one character.

Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers cited The Mamas & the Papas , and especially Elliot as an influence, in an interview for Rolling Stone , saying, "There have been times when I've been very down and out in my life, and the sound of her voice has sort of given me a reason to want to carry on." [17] Boy George and k.d. lang also cited Elliot as an influence. [18] George described her as "the greatest white female singer ever." [19] Beth Ditto , singer of the band Gossip , named Elliot both as music and fashion inspiration, saying, "I really wanted to sound like Mama Cass growing up." [20] [21] Elliot's recording of " Make Your Own Kind of Music " is featured prominently in several episodes of seasons 2 and 3 of Lost . Her recording of "It's Getting Better" was also featured in a season 4 episode . Elliot is mentioned as one of the upcoming concert acts in the Stephen King short story " You Know They Got a Hell of a Band ," which concerns a couple who wander into a small town inhabited by dead rock and roll legends.

Donovan 's song "The Fat Angel" is a heartfelt tribute to Cass Elliot. Since her death, Elliot and the circumstances surrounding her death have been the butt of numerous jokes in comedy routines, movies, and songs, by performers such as Frank Zappa , Adam Sandler , [22] Denis Leary , Mike Myers (in the first Austin Powers movie ), "Weird Al" Yankovic , Robin Williams , and others. Industrial musician Foetus mentions that he is the one that "gave the sandwich to Mama Cass" in the song "Throne of Agony." [23] In a Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated episode, "The Secret Serum" a cameo of Elliot appears as an buyer at an auction. [24] Discography Mamas and Papas singer 'had incestuous relationship with daughter' - Telegraph Music Mamas and Papas singer 'had incestuous relationship with daughter' John Phillips, the musician behind The Mamas and The Papas, had an incestuous relationship with his daughter, Mackenzie, she has claimed.

John Phillips of the pop group 'The Mamas and The Papas,' (left) and his daughter MacKenzie Photo: AP By Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor 2:25PM BST 23 Sep 2009 Mackenzie Phillips made the revelation in her autobiography, alleging that she slept with her father the night before her wedding. The 49-year-old actress, a recovering drug addict, said the relationship began on the eve of her marriage to Jeff Sessler, a member of the Rolling Stones entourage, in 1979. She was 19 at the time. In her book, High On Arrival, she wrote: "On the eve of my wedding, my father showed up, determined to stop. I had tons of pills, and Dad had tons of everything too. Eventually I passed out on Dad's bed. "My father was not a man with boundaries. He was full of love, and he was sick with drugs. I woke up that night from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father. "Had this happened before? I didn't know.

All I can say is it was the first time I was aware of it." Related Articles Mackenzie Phillips aborted incest baby 24 Sep 2009 Phillips, who became a household name as a child actress in the US sitcom One Day At A Time, said the relationship became consensual and she kept it secret for 30 years. She asked for understanding, saying: "Don't hate my father." He died of heart failure in 2001 after a long history of drink and drug abuse. During an appearance on Wednesday's Oprah Winfrey show to promote her memoir, Phillips said her father helped her to take drugs. The actress has had a well-documented battle with addiction and was arrested at Los Angeles airport last year for possession of heroin and cocaine. "My father shot me up. He would put the needle in my arm and he would push the plunger in and he missed... the vein and my whole arm went numb," Phillips recalled. "He seemed a little nervous, but at the same time it seemed very commonplace." Phillips is the product of the musician's marriage to his first wife, Susan Adams.

John Phillips was the main songwriter for The Mamas and The Papas, the vocal harmony group which he formed with his wife, Michelle, Denny Doherty and Cass Elliot. They had their first hit in 1965 with California Dreamin' and went on to sell 40 million albums worldwide, spawning such memorable songs as Monday, Monday and Dedicated To The One I Love. He was also a founder of the Monterey Pop Festival, one of the key events of the 1967 "Summer of Love". The band was torn apart when Michelle Phillips and Doherty began an affair, which resulted in her being temporarily evicted from the line-up. The group split in 1968 and John Phillips went solo. He formed The New Mamas and The Papas in the 1980s, performing with his daughter. Michelle Phillips is the only surviving member of the band, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Elliot, otherwise known as Mama Cass, died in 1974 and Doherty in 2007.

Question: What was the surname of Mamas and Papas singer Mama Cass?
Answer: Elliot