Her father, involved in several business ventures, ultimately succeeded through the development of a lunch wagon in Baltimore that provided meals to construction workers.

She won a small part in the play The Boy Friend, a summer stock production at the Hilltop Theatre in Owings Mills, Maryland[11] in 1959 under the name Ellen Cohen.

[12] She left high school shortly before graduation and moved to New York City to further her acting career (as recounted in the lyrics to "Creeque Alley").

In 1964, the group appeared on an "open mic" night at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village, billed as Cass Elliot and the Big 3, followed onstage by folk singer Jim Fosso and bluegrass banjoist Eric Weissberg.

Tim Rose left the Big 3 in 1964, and Elliot and Hendricks teamed with Canadians Zal Yanovsky and Denny Doherty to form the Mugwumps.

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 confirmed the story in a 1968 interview with Rolling Stone, saying: It's true, I did get hit on the head by a pipe that fell down and my range was increased by three notes.

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.

However, she attributed a stomach ulcer and throat problems to her severe regimen, which she treated by drinking milk and cream—rapidly regaining 50 pounds in the process.

[18] She was confined to her bed for three weeks before the first performance while the musical director, band, and production supervisor attempted to put together a show in her absence.

She was scheduled to rehearse for a full three days before the show opened, but she managed to get through only part of one run-through with the band before saying that she was losing her voice.

She skipped the remainder of rehearsals and drank tea and lemon, hoping to recover and pull herself together for opening night.

[19] An audience of 950 people filled the Circus Maximus theater at Caesar's Palace on the evening of Wednesday, October 16, including Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, Liza Minnelli, and Mia Farrow, who had sent flowers to Elliot's dressing room, but backstage she had developed a raging fever.

Esquire magazine called the show "Sink Along with Cass" and "a disaster" that was "heroic in proportion, epic in scope".

[17] The Los Angeles Free Press called it "an embarrassing drag", while Newsweek compared it to the Titanic disaster: "Like some great ocean liner embarking on an ill-fated maiden voyage, Mama Cass slid down the waves and sank to the bottom".

[19] Within hours of the end of Elliot's Las Vegas concert, rumors began to spread that she had been taking drugs during the weeks leading up to it.

Elliot performed the title song "The Good Times Are Comin'" during the opening sequence of the 1970 film Monte Walsh, starring Lee Marvin and Jack Palance.

In 2009, a complete videotape of The Julie Andrews Hour Christmas Show was donated to The Paley Center For Media in New York, with all of Elliot's numbers intact.

In 1973, Elliot performed in Saga of Sonora, a TV music-comedy-Western special with Jill St. John, Vince Edwards, Zero Mostel, and Lesley Ann Warren.

Carr felt Elliot needed to leave pop and rock music and head into the cabaret circuit, so a show was put together comprising old standards along with a few new songs written for her by friends.

The title of the show was Don't Call Me Mama Anymore, named after one of the songs written by Elliot's friend Earle Brown.

Mystery Incorporated in the episodes "The Secret Serum", "Pawn of Shadows", and "Dance of the Undead" as a Crystal Cove citizen.

She was treated at a hospital and released, then dismissed the incident as simple exhaustion in interviews and in the conversation she had with Carson during her May 7 visit to his show’s studio where she made it through the telecast.

[23] Soon after Elliot videotaped an appearance on the syndicated Mike Douglas Show, which originated from Philadelphia, she began two weeks of solo concerts at the London Palladium.

Later that night, several hours after Elliot left Jack Martin's cocktail party, she died in her sleep at age 32.

[33][34] According to Lindsay Zoladz in The New York Times in 2024, this "cartoonish rumor—propagated in endless pop culture references, from Austin Powers to Lost—cast a tawdry light over Elliot’s legacy and still threatens to overshadow her mighty, underappreciated talent.

She denied responsibility, and the case was brought before the West London magistrates' court, where the charges against her were dismissed in the absence of any evidence.

The Mamas & the Papas were forced to cancel their upcoming British concerts as a result of the incident, and the band broke up the next year.

[52][53] Elliot was the subject of a 2004 stage production in Dublin,[54] The Songs of Mama Cass, with Kristin Kapelli performing main vocals.

It was also featured in ABC's The Middle when Sue Heck graduates from high school and in Netflix's Sex Education when Aimee smashes up an abandoned car.