We’re saluting of one of many most-loved characters in Nineteen Sixties and early ’70s pop music, and certainly one of its most distinctive voices. It’s Cass Elliot, eternally higher identified to all followers of the Mamas and the Papas, and admirers of high quality pop generally, as “Mama” Cass.
The singer from Baltimore, born Ellen Cohen on September 19, 1941, began to be referred to as Cass throughout highschool, and at first thought she may pursue an performing profession. She began singing critically within the early Nineteen Sixties as a member of the Triumvirate, later the Massive 3, who included Tim Rose, later to be celebrated as a singer-songwriter, particularly for his recordings of “Hey Joe” and “Morning Dew.”
Varied solo and group endeavors later, she teamed up with Denny Doherty, briefly her colleague within the Mugwumps, and John Phillips and his spouse Michelle. As they holidayed collectively within the Virgin Islands, Elliot agreed to hitch what would change into the Mamas and the Papas. Their success over the next years is the stuff of trade legend, as they got here to symbolize a method of city Californian pop that completely complemented the plush sound of the Seaside Boys.
The group’s preliminary run of success was comparatively short-lived, and though they recorded to satisfy their document contract, the quartet additionally pursued their very own initiatives. Elliot launched her cowl of the Nineteen Thirties chestnut “Dream A Little Dream Of Me” in the summertime of 1968 and noticed it change into a world hit, adopted within the autumn by the Dream A Little Dream album. By then, she had a profitable reserving at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas which ended disastrously when an extreme weight reduction program led to damaging evaluations, sickness and melancholy.
She recovered for 1969’s Bubblegum, Lemonade and…One thing for Mama, which included “Getting Better,” a US long-runner and prime ten single within the UK, in addition to the good “Make Your Own Kind Of Music” and her model of “I Can Dream, Can’t I?” Elliot launched the Dave Mason & Cass Elliot album with the Visitors member in 1971, earlier than two extra solo initiatives and a reside document.
On July 29, 1974, Cass had simply accomplished a sellout run on the London Palladium when, at her flat in Mayfair, she died in her sleep, of a reported coronary heart assault, on the tragically early age of 32. In 2005, Cass’ daughter Owen Elliot-Kugell wrote that she thought her mom “would want to be remembered for her voice, which was one of the uniquely special sounds of her time. But it’s more than just her singing voice. I think she would want to be remembered for the voice she raised to improve the world around her.”
As for Mama Cass herself, she instructed the NME in 1972: “I seem to be one of the very few pure singers around nowadays. I think you’ve got to be better vocally if you’ve got nothing else to offer.”
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