Posted in: News, Trivia Q & A | No Comments | October 3, 2021
Q. What was Naomi Cohen’s stage name?
A. “Mama” Cass Elliot
Elliot was born Ellen Naomi Cohen to Philip and Bess Cohen in Baltimore, Maryland. She had a younger sister, Leah, who also became a singer as a member of the Coyote Sisters.
The Cohens later moved to Alexandria, Virginia (a suburb of Washington, D.C.). She adopted the name “Cass” in high school—possibly, as Denny Doherty tells it, borrowing it from the actress Peggy Cass—but in any case, it was “Cass”, not “Cassandra.” She assumed the surname Elliot sometime later, in memory of a friend who had died. While still attending George Washington High School, she became interested in acting and was cast in a school production of the play The Boy Friend. She left high school shortly before graduation and relocated to New York City to further her acting career. She toured in the musical The Music Man, but lost the part of Miss Marmelstein in I Can Get It for You Wholesale, to Barbra Streisand in 1962.
While working as a cloakroom attendant at The Showplace in Greenwich Village in New York, Elliot would sometimes sing, but it wasn’t until she returned to the Washington D.C. area, to attend American University, that she 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 3.
When Tim Rose left The Big 3 in 1964, Elliot and Hendricks teamed with Canadians Zal Yanovsky and Denny Doherty to form The Mugwumps. This group lasted eight months, after which Cass performed as a solo act for a while. In the meantime, Yanovsky and John Sebastian co-founded 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 Elliot should join the group which she did while she 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 she was hit on the head by some copper tubing while walking through a construction site behind the bar where The New Journeymen were playing in the Virgin Islands. Elliot herself confirmed the story in a 1968 interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
With two female members, The New Journeymen needed a new name. According to Doherty, Elliot had the inspiration for the band’s new name. ” 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 the Carson 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.”
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.
At the height of her solo career in 1974, Elliot performed two weeks of sold-out concerts at the London Palladium. She telephoned Michelle Phillips after the final concert on July 28, elated that she had received standing ovations each night. She then retired for the evening, and died in her sleep at age 32. Sources state her death was due to a heart attack. Elliot died in a London flat, No. 12 at 9 Curzon Place, Shepherd 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. Elliot was entombed inMount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
