As arguably the most recognizable member of the folk rock vocal group The Mamas & the Papas, it was apropos that Baltimore native Cass Elliot received her posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on a “Monday, Monday.”
On Oct. 3, family members and friends of Elliot — who died of heart failure in 1974 in London at age 32 — were among the attendees at a ceremony led by the singer’s daughter, Owen Elliot-Kugell, and Elliot’s younger sister, Leah Kunkel, and administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
The star designation and ceremony were the result of a multi-year campaign coordinated by Elliot-Kugell, 55, who is writing a biography about her mother.
Among the notables in attendance were singers Stephen Stills and John Sebastian, as well as Michelle Phillips, 78, the sole surviving member of The Mamas & the Papas.
Among the celebrities who sent tributes were Paul McCartney, David Crosby and Carol Burnett.
“This is one of those things that is so long overdue,” Stills said at the ceremony. “I can’t even imagine why she isn’t up here herself, on her own, for all she contributed to our wonderful industry.”
Elliot, who was born Ellen Naomi Cohen, became the 2,735th person or group to receive a star on the Walk of Fame, which receives more than 10 million visitors annually. Her star is located at 7065 Hollywood Blvd. and simply reads, “MAMA CASS ELLIOT.”
“A pioneer pop culture feminist and icon, Mama Cass was one of the greatest singers of her generation,” said Lupita Sanchez-Cornjo, board chair of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. “She created songs that defined a new musical era by blending the genres of folk, rock and pop into a new trademark sound. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is honored to remember her life and her legacy today.”
Said Elliot-Kuggell: “I want people to know, when they walk down this boulevard, who she was.”
The granddaughter of Russian Jewish immigrants, Elliot grew up in Northwest Baltimore and attended Forest Park High School. Her mother, Bessie Levine Cohen, was a nurse and her father, Philip Cohen, operated a mobile food stand for construction workers near what became Mondawmin Mall. (Both of Elliot’s parents are buried at the Hebrew Young Men’s Cemetery in Woodlawn.)
After high school, Elliot moved to New York to pursue a career in the entertainment field. She eventually became immersed in the folk music scene of the early 1960s and a member of a group called The Big 3.
“I was in the class of 1959 at Forest Park High School, but I never did graduate,” Elliot told the Baltimore Sun in a 1973 interview. “I got bored with the whole thing two weeks before graduation and I took off. I was doing a lot of driving around and hanging out.”
In mid-1965, Elliot joined John Phillips and his wife, Michelle, and Denny Doherty to form The Mamas & the Papas. Among their biggest hits were “California Dreamin’,” “Creeque Alley,” “Monday, Monday,” “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” “Go Where You Wanna Go” and “Dedicated to the One I Love.”
The band, which appeared at the Monterey International Pop Festival of 1967 and on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
As a solo artist, Elliot enjoyed success with such hits as “Make Your Own Kind of Music” and “New World Coming,” and was a familiar personality on variety programs, talk shows and prime-time TV specials.
On Aug. 15, 1973, Baltimore Mayor William Donald Schaefer presented a key to the city to Elliot, as well as her belated high school diploma from Forest Park. “I always feel very warm when I think of Baltimore,” she told The Evening Sun.
At the time of her death, she had just finished a successful series of concerts at the London Palladium.
Elliot is buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
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