People: Mama Cass' Daughter Owen Remembers the 'Last Time' She Saw Her Mom Before Her Tragic Death at 32
Owen Elliot-Kugell recounts her mother’s life in a new book, ‘My Mama, Cass,’ out May 7
Owen Elliot-Kugel will always remember the last day she spent with her mother, Cass Elliot.
“She took me to the airport to get on a plane by myself for the first time to go to Baltimore, to spend the summer with my grandmother,” Elliot-Kugell tells PEOPLE for a story in this week's issue. “My mom was going to England to do some shows there, and do some shows in Europe. And it was summertime, and I was going to go to camp and hang out with my grandmother, who I was very close with.”
Just 7 years old at the time, she continues, “And I remember being at the airport with her, remember walking through the airport, holding her hand. I remember sitting with her at the gate talking about my trip, and her trip, and what I was going to do, and that I was going to make new friends…I remember her taking me on the plane, and finding my seat, and putting my seatbelt on, and giving me kisses.”
“And I remember her saying, ‘Look out your window because you can see that inside the airport, the big window right there,’” Elliot-Kugell says. “She said, ‘I'm going to go in there and I'm going to wave.’ And that's what she did. And I looked out the window and there she was, and she was waving.”
Cass Elliot, whose alto voice graced hits like “California Dreamin’” and “Dream a Little Dream of Me” for ‘60s folk rock group The Mamas & The Papas, died from a heart attack at age 32 on July 29, 1974. Fifty years later, her daughter, now 57, shares intimate new details of the mom she loved and lost in her new book My Mama, Cass, out May 7 from Hachette Books.
In the memoir, which includes interviews with some of her mother’s closest friends, Elliot-Kugell delves into the complexities of Cass' life, including the mystery of who Elliot-Kugell’s father was, and she reveals the true story behind the rumor that the singer died while choking on a ham sandwich.
Ultimately, Elliot-Kugell says that writing the memoir was important to her, and that she feels "closer to [Cass] than ever.”
“I really wanted to tell my mother's story as best I could because she wasn't here to do it for herself,” she says. "And I felt like her story should come from her family."
My Mama, Cass will be published on May 7 and is now available for preorder, wherever books are sold.
