Mama Cass: What Really Happened to the Powerhouse Mamas & the Papas Vocalist

There's no other musician quite like Mama Cass. As a member of the Mamas & the Papas, she established herself as one of the most powerful vocalists of the '60s, and she was one of the only plus-sized women to take center stage at that time in pop culture.

Mama Cass' presence still feels ahead of its time — let's face it, the music world still has a long way to go when it comes to representing a bigger range of sizes — and looking back at the singer who died 50 years ago at just 32, its clear that she was tragically misunderstood.

Read on for a look at how Mama Cass became a star, and the truth about her complicated, too-short life.

From Ellen Naomi Cohen to Cass Elliot to Mama Cass

Mama Cass was born Ellen Naomi Cohen in Baltimore in 1941. As a teenager, she took on the name Cass Elliot, and left high school to pursue a career as an actress. She had a small part in a touring production of The Music Man, but struggled to find roles beyond that, saying, "There just don’t seem to be many parts for a 200-pound ingenue."

In college, Elliot became part of the burgeoning folk music scene, and in 1963 she joined the folk trio the Big 3. She and one of her Big 3 bandmates then joined another short-lived group, the Mugwumps. One of the Mugwumps, Denny Doherty, then joined the New Journeymen, featuring John and Michelle Phillips, and the band soon evolved into the Mamas & the Papas, with the classic lineup of Mama Cass, Denny Doherty and John and Michelle Phillips.

The drama of the Mamas & the Papas

The Mamas & the Papas were at the forefront of hippie pop from 1965 to 1968, and Elliot had much to do with their success. Many considered her the strongest vocalist in the group, and she was praised for her singular charisma and infectiously sunny vibe.

Beneath the surface, however, things weren't quite as groovy as they seemed, as the Mamas & the Papas were notoriously plagued by interpersonal drama. John Phillips was often cruel to Elliot, and shamed her for her weight, and she had an unrequited love for Doherty — a yearning made all the more painful when he had an affair with her more conventionally attractive bandmate, Michelle Phillips.

While Elliot did have a sense of humor about her weight, and blew away naysayers with her fabulous voice, the frequent comments from her bandmates, fans and the media about how she looked weren't always easy to deal with. As her daughter, Owen Elliot-Kugell put it, her late mom may have kept up a positive, funny spirit, but, "That pain had to go somewhere. When I think about some of the things that had allegedly been said to her during her lifetime, you can’t hear that over and over and not let it hurt."

After the Mamas & the Papas

The Mamas & the Papas made a huge cultural impact, but the band didn't last long, and after they broke up Elliot embarked on a solo career. She made her solo debut with Dream a Little Dream in 1968, and her biggest hit was the title song, a standard which she had originally recorded with her former band as the lead vocalist.

She continued to release solo albums, and her final solo album, from 1973, was pointedly called Don't Call Me Mama Anymore. She also had two solo TV specials and was a popular TV guest in the early '70s.

Mama Cass personal life

Elliot had two quickie marriages (the first of which was a marriage of convenience to help keep a friend from being drafted) and gave birth to her daughter, Owen, in 1967. Elliot never said who the father was, and raised her as a single mom. It wasn't until 2008 that Chuck Day, the touring bassist for the Mamas & the Papas, was revealed as Owen's biological father.

Sadly, Owen didn't get much time with her mom, as Elliot died of a heart attack in 1974. Soon after her untimely passing, a rumor spread that Elliot had died from choking on a ham sandwich. This rumor was circulated for decades, and became a lasting pop cultural reference. As it turns out, this claim was entirely false.

While Elliot did have half a ham sandwich before her death, the rumor that she died from choking on it was essentially a crude joke about her weight. For a long time, no one knew where the story originated, but in 2020, Sue Cameron, a journalist and friend of the late musician, admitted that she created it because Elliot's manager didn't want there to be any speculation about her drug use.

In a 2024 New York Times article on Elliot, Cameron said she regretted the ham sandwich rumor and was sad it lasted so long, calling it "a terrible thing," and saying, "Of all of the things I’ve done, this ham sandwich has followed me my entire life."

Elliot's daughter recently published My Mama, Cass: A Memoir, a moving account of her mom's life and legacy that sets the record straight on the cruelty aimed at her in life and death and shows that she was gifted, kind and funny.

50 years later, Elliot is finally getting the respect she deserves, and her achievements as a '60s pop icon are forever inspiring.