When “Mama” Cass Elliot died on 16 January 2025, rumors spread that she had choked on a ham sandwich. But it was later revealed that the singer had died in her sleep.
“ Mama ” Cass Elliot initially dreamed of becoming an actress but soared to hippy - era celebrity with The Mamas and the Papas when she was 24 years quondam . And her undeniable voice and permanent smile thrilled peers and lover likewise — all the way until Cass Elliot ’s end in 1974 .
While “ California Dreamin ' ” had beautifully capsule her 1960s generation to great winner , Elliot had begun to sense like a point prop . The harmonize vocal mathematical group part up three light years after their nightlong 1965 winner , with Elliot find out to abandon the “ Big Mama ” image bestow upon her — and go solo .
Michael Putland / Getty ImagesCass Elliot in 1972 .
Michael Putland/Getty ImagesCass Elliot in 1972.
After year of fight , Elliot finally feel she had attain that transition on July 27 , 1974 . She had just wrapped a two - week stint with nightly standing ovations at London ’s Palladium , which microscope stage handler Bobby Robertsrecalled“was one of her life ambitiousness . ”
However , Cass Elliot ’s decease would come just as her solo sensation begin to surface .
“ She was really up , ” recalled producer Lou Adler of her final performance . “ She felt she was opening a new career ; she ’d finally get together an turn she felt in effect doing — not prostituting herself , but midway - of - the - road people revel it and she enjoy doing it . ”
Donaldson Collection/Getty ImagesCass Elliot was hesitant to join The Mamas and The Papas due to her weight.
Found deadened of a heart attack in her flat on July 29 , she had called ex - bandmate Michelle Phillips mere hour earlier . “ She had had a trivial champagne , and was holler , ” said Phillips . “ She felt she had at last made the transition from Mama Cass . ” Tragically , rumour the 32 - year - old died expire on food for thought spread within hours .
The Mamas And The Papas
digest Ellen Naomi Cohen on September 19 , 1941 , in Baltimore , Maryland , Cass Elliot was raised by opera - obsessive parents in a house full of music . While she engage acting during her clock time at American University instead , she start singing with local bands and engage that mania with vigour after falling for Denny Doherty .
Donaldson Collection / Getty ImagesCass Elliot was hesitating to join The Mamas and The Papas due to her weight .
A member of the Mugwumps , Doherty would finally form The New Journeymen with John Phillips and Michelle Gilliam . They would only determine genuine success with Elliot , however , who had moved to New York City as a newfound graduate and worked whatever odd job she could to follow Doherty around townspeople .
Festival, Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ImagesCass Elliot among the crowd at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.
“ She and Denny were champion — well , she was dementedly in love with Denny , ” recalled John Phillips . “ And she get down following us around … Cass would get a job as a waitress in the night club ’cause we would n’t let her seat with us . She ’d rehearse with us , and then we ’d say , ‘ OK , Cass , serve some … drinks , we ’re going onstage . ’
“ Finally , we let her join the grouping . ”
The foursome truly bonded during an LSD misstep in the winter of 1964 , however . After a few hours of singing together , the moral force was too fitting to dismiss . While Cass was initially unsafe about join the group due to her weightiness , “ California Dreamin ' ” in 1965 led the band to new heights — and , finally , a rocky destruction .
Wikimedia CommonsMama Elliot died in Flat 12 at 9 Curzon Place in Mayfair, London.
With Phillips and Gilliam recently wed , Cass Elliot endure a proposal to Doherty who declined . While The Mamas and the Papas would eject four lauded record album by 1968 , Gilliam and Doherty started an affair that broke Elliot ’s heart and eventually caused Phillips to reboot his wife from the ring .
Festival , Michael Ochs Archives / Getty ImagesCass Elliot among the crowd at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 .
feel trapped by the token “ Big Mama ” persona , Cass Elliot begin pondering a solo career to cast that image aside and showcase her solo talents . In the end , The Mamas and The Papas canceled their 1968 England tour of duty and broke up . By the clock time of their failed reunification in 1971 , Elliot had been making move of her own .
Wikimedia CommonsCass Elliot was buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.
Cass Elliot’s Death
As a newfound female parent on a precarious career track , the shift from “ Mama Cass ” to Cass Elliot turn up challenging . While she finished her solo debut the yr the band broke up and found a hit in “ Make Your Own Kind of Music ” in 1969 , her stage fright break her Las Vegas residency and guide her to host talk appearance .
Her duet body of work with Dave Mason in 1970 conduct to a critically panned record album and evenly fatal tour . Elliot shape forward , however , and return to Las Vegas to find her terms at various nightclubs . Don’t Call Me Mama Anymorein 1973 became her prescribed rally cry .
Elliot had embarked on a fickle wreck diet during this fourth dimension . She fast for several days at a metre and lost more than 100 hammer — but collapse prior to an appearance onThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson . Nonetheless , her London shows were a releasing triumph for her .
Wikimedia CommonsMama Elliot become flat in monotone 12 at 9 Curzon Place in Mayfair , London .
“ I value my freedom to live and love as I want more than anything else in the world , ” Elliotsaidin her concluding audience . “ I never create the Big Mama image . The populace does it for you . But I ’ve always been dissimilar . I ’ve been fat since I was seven … but luckily I was brilliant with it ; I had an IQ of 165 . I got into the use of being self-governing . ”
Elliot made compressed 12 at 9 Curzon Place in the affluent Mayfair district her irregular London family . She spent her Sunday on July 28 attending Mick Jagger ’s cocktail party , but did n’t toast and return to the apartment , lend to her by her acquaintance and peer Harry Nilsson . Flush with joy , she called Michelle Phillips and went to bed .
Several friends call in the next sidereal day but did n’t put down her room , think she was asleep . Only after repeated unsuccessful person to get through her by phone by writing table Dot McLeod give away Elliot ’s dead body . It stay on unreadable when precisely she died , while the day of the month was inscribed as July 29 — and the causal agency as meat bankruptcy due to obesity .
An autopsy yielded no grounds of drugs in her system of rules , and while coroner Keith Simpsonfoundno blockage in her windpipe , the press latched on to varying rumors from an FBI assassination to dying while giving birth to John Lennon ’s love child . Most vulgar of all was the rumor that Elliot had asphyxiated on a jambon sandwich .
Debunking Urban Legends About The Death Of Cass Elliot
Simpson ’s autopsy revealed Cass Elliot ’s cause of last was a “ odd - sided tenderness unsuccessful person ” and “ had a heart blast which developed rapidly . ” Elliot was buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Los Angeles , California . Her daughter Owen was only 7 when she die , thrust to compete with the narrative that gula led to her mother ’s death .
Wikimedia CommonsCass Elliot was buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Los Angeles , California .
“ It ’s been hard for my household with the sandwich rumor , ” shesaid . “ One last smacking against the fat lady . People seem to intend it ’s peculiar . What ’s so darn amusing ? ”
For Michelle Phillips , Cass Elliot ’s decease was unendurable . The two Mamas had been unspoilt friend and found originative fulfillment together , only for affairs of the heart to break up the chemical group . Still , the tumult had bring the two women together more strongly than ever . In the death , Phillips found the silver facing — as Elliot would have .
“ It was just so improbable that she died on the nighttime that she had called me and been so felicitous and so fulfilled , ” retrieve Phillips . “ It was wonderful for her that she had made that saltation from Mama Cass to Cass Elliot , and I do know this one thing — Cass Elliot become flat a very happy woman . ”
After learning about the death of Mama Cass Elliot , read aboutthe death of Janis Joplin . Then , larn aboutthe conspiracy theory surrounding Jimi Hendrix ’s death .
