USA Today: Mama Cass' daughter debunks ham sandwich death myth, talks career that might have been

Mama Cass. What does that name conjure?

It should summon memories of The Mamas & The Papas, which also included singers John and Michelle Phillips and Denny Doherty, and their harmonizing '60s hits “California Dreamin’” and “Monday, Monday.”

But it might also surface a less flattering music history artifact: that “Mama” Cass Elliot, who throughout her 32 years battled weight issues, had died in London in 1974 after choking on a ham sandwich.

A new book, “My Mama, Cass: A Memoir,” is an effort by her lone child, Owen Elliot-Kugell, to not only debunk the ham sandwich tale, but also to celebrate an entertainment pioneer who died just as she was starting to realize her solo showbiz dream.

“My mom passed before she was able to tell her own story,” says Elliot-Kugell, 57, who was 7 when her mom decamped for a London concert date and never returned. “I guess I realized from a young age that eventually I was going to have to be the one to set the record straight.”

“My Mama, Cass” is unique among rock biographies, given the storyteller had an intimate if truncated relationship to the star in question. Elliot-Kugel supplements her own limited memory banks with stories from family and friends who knew Mama Cass to create a full picture of a tragically short life.

Here's a Mama Cass primer as revealed in “My Mama, Cass”:

Who was Mama Cass Elliot?

Mama Cass Elliot was a pivotal voice in the hit-making singing quartet, The Mamas & The Papas, who epitomized the folk-rock vibe that sizzled in the late ‘60s.

She was born Ellen Cohen and grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, the granddaughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants. Her stage name was an inversion of her real initials, and involved a nickname, Cassandra, followed by a name she liked.

“My great-grandparents came over from Europe in 1913 or so, so it’s crazy that a granddaughter of those people had this huge success and got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. ” says Elliot-Kugell. “It’s truly an American dream type story.”