Owen Vanessa Elliot, the only daughter of The Mamas & the Papas singer Cass Elliot, was just seven years old when her mother died. Since then, she has dedicated her life to uncovering the mysteries surrounding the singer’s life.
Owen Elliot-Kugell/InstagramBaby Owen Elliot with her mother (left) and aunt Leah Kunkel (center).
Owen Vanessa Elliot was born into a life of music and fame. The daughter of Cass Elliot, one of the lead singers of The Mamas & the Papas, Owen was immersed in her mother’s world from a young age, experiencing both the warmth of Cass’ affection and the challenges of growing up in the spotlight.
Tragically, when Owen was just seven years old, her mother died suddenly from a heart attack while on tour in London. The music world mourned the death of superstar Cass Elliot, but Owen was left grappling with the impact of losing her mother so young. She spent much of her life reflecting on her mother’s legacy, pondering who her father might have been, and dealing with the rumors surrounding Cass’ death — including the infamous myth that she had died choking on a ham sandwich.
In 2024, Owen Elliot-Kugell published a memoir, My Mama, Cass, shedding light on her mother’s career and personal struggles while emphasizing her role as a trailblazer in the music industry who defied expectations and inspired future generations.
Owen Vanessa Elliot’s Early Life And Upbringing In The Music Industry
Public DomainSinger Cass Elliot, Owen Vanessa Elliot’s mother.
Owen Vanessa Elliot was born on April 26, 1967 in Northampton, Massachusetts to her mother Cass Elliot. At the time of Owen’s birth, Cass was an internationally recognized singer in the hit band The Mamas & the Papas.
Known for songs like “California Dreamin'” and “Dream A Little Dream Of Me,” The Mamas & the Papas was one of the most iconic rock bands of the 1960s.
As a lead singer in the group, Cass Elliot rubbed elbows with some of the biggest stars in the music industry, including Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Cash. Throughout the 1960s, Cass lived the life of a rockstar, becoming a key figure in the countercultural movement. She reportedly continued her wild ways after she discovered she was pregnant with her daughter, touring with the band and even dropping acid.
Despite her successes, Cass Elliot dealt with feelings of loneliness and insecurity about her weight for much of her career. But even though she struggled in her romantic life, she had desperately wanted to be a mother. In the mid-1960s, Cass decided to stop using protection during her affairs in the hopes of getting pregnant — and in 1967, Owen was born.
“It’s painful to me that she never got to experience the love of a relationship with a partner,” Owen Elliot told The Times in 2024. “But I also think it was really kind of badass of her to just go out and have a baby on her own instead. Today people have babies on their own all the time, but not back then. But she thought, I’m a rock star, I have all this money, I don’t need a man, this is what I want.”
Mamas and Papas Music/InstagramCass Elliot with her daughter.
From the moment Cass Elliot laid eyes on her daughter, she was in love.
“Even the name she chose for me underscored her desire for a creature to love,” Owen Vanessa Elliot told NextTribe in 2024. “She named me Owen because I was her ‘own.'”
The pair had a deeply close relationship. When Cass went on the road or entertained guests, she left Owen in the care of nannies or Owen’s aunt, Leah. But whenever she wasn’t performing for the masses or attending late-night talk shows, Cass Elliot would often take her young daughter on drives around Los Angeles, or cuddle up with her to watch movies.
The singer even dedicated her song “Lady Love” to Owen, writing: “A little girl to set me free. Hard times I will rise above, with a little help from lady love.”
The early 1970s were a happy time for Cass Elliot and her daughter. Tragically, it couldn’t last forever.
Cass Elliot’s Untimely Death Rocks The Music World
ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy Stock PhotoCass Elliot’s daughter, Owen, who lost her mother at the age of seven.
On July 29, 1974, Cass Elliot was found dead in an apartment she was renting in London. She had been playing two weeks of solo shows at London’s Palladium. After a long night of partying, she had gone to bed late and tragically died in her sleep from a heart attack.
The singer’s death was international news, and rumors about how Cass Elliot died soon spread like wildfire in the media. Some speculated that she’d been murdered, while others claimed she’d choked to death on a ham sandwich.
Meanwhile, Owen Vanessa Elliot was grappling with the sudden loss of her mother.
“I have a very, very clear memory of [my grandmother] telling me that my mom died,” Owen told Rolling Stone in 2023. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh, well, they’re not right. They’re wrong. She’s just traveling. She’ll come back. She always does.'”
It wasn’t until after Cass’ funeral that the reality of her situation truly hit Owen.
“I was being asked who I wanted to ride home with, my grandmother or my aunt and uncle,” Owen recalled. “It struck me: I’d better get used to my new life. I don’t have my mother anymore. It was a hugely defining, hugely sad moment of realization.”
Owen Elliot Finally Meets Her Father
After losing her mother, Owen Vanessa Elliot’s life had irreparably changed. She soon fell into the care of her aunt and uncle, splitting her time between Massachusetts and Los Angeles.
As she passed into her teenage years, Owen continued to live her life as normally as she could. But Cass Elliot’s death had left her with countless unanswered questions. Top of the list: Who was her father?
On the night of Owen’s 19th birthday, her mother’s old bandmates finally revealed the truth: Her father was Chuck Day, a session guitarist who had sometimes performed with The Mamas & the Papas.
Bandmate Michelle Phillips helped Owen track him down to the Bay Area of California and even bought her a plane ticket to go meet him.
DiscogsGuitarist Chuck Day, the father of Owen Vanessa Elliot.
The experience was surreal.
“He was a hot mess by the time I met him. He was a pretty serious alcoholic,” Owen told The Times. However, the meeting ultimately gave her closure.
“The second I saw him, I knew we shared DNA. He was a little uncomfortable,” she told People in 2024. “He was a perfect stranger telling me how much he loved me and it was the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard in my whole life.”
Owen Vanessa Elliot Uncovers Truths About Her Mother In My Mama, Cass
UPI/Alamy Stock PhotoOwen Elliot-Kugell (left) and Leah Kunkel attend the Hollywood Walk of Fame unveiling ceremony honoring the late singer “Mama” Cass Elliot in 2022.
As an adult, Owen Vanessa Elliot followed in her mother’s footsteps and pursued a career in music. She eventually met and fell in love with music producer Jack Kugell. The couple married in 1991 and have two children together.
Despite establishing a life of her own, Owen could not shake the lingering questions about her mother’s life and death. She began working on a book about Cass Elliot to help her uncover the truth.
One of the most pressing issues for Owen was who had originally spread the myth that her mother had choked to death on a sandwich. Unfortunately, the public was not kind to women who looked like Cass Elliot, and Owen feared that it had been yet another cruel insult thrown her mother’s way.
“When people are told ‘No, you can’t do something’ or ‘No, you’re too fat’ many times people will just walk away,” Owen told People. “But my mom didn’t do that. She was a woman in a man’s world who paved the way for other women of size. And that’s important.”
But as Owen found out, the rumor had been invented by Cass Elliot’s manager, Allan Carr.
In the immediate aftermath of Cass’ death, it wasn’t initially clear how she had died, and Carr had worried the public would speculate she’d died of an overdose. So when a journalist walked through Cass’ apartment in London following her death and spotted a sandwich on the nightstand, Carr instructed her to write a story about it.
“And that was really a huge relief, knowing that the story came from someone wanting to protect her, rather than someone making a joke of her,” Owen told The Times. “That’s all I wanted to know.”
Finally, in 2024, Owen published My Mama, Cass, a memoir about her famous mother. The project had taken more than a decade of research.
“There is such a sense of completion and real satisfaction as a result of all of this,” she explained. “It’s kind of weird to say, but I feel like, in some ways, I know her better now.”
Owen Elliot hopes the book will shed more light on her mother’s contributions to the music industry and inspire confidence in readers.
“She was a one-woman triumph against adversity; she was ahead of her time; women now are finally doing what she did 50 years ago,” Owen told NextTribe. “I look back on her and realize that, just by example, she taught me, and others, not to accept it when someone says you can’t do something.”
After reading about Owen Vanessa Elliot, Cass Elliot’s daughter, dive into the true story of Christina Crawford, the daughter of Joan Crawford. Then, read about Christian Brando, the troubled son of actor Marlon Brando.
