Mama Cass Elliot who died fifty years ago had a clear, earthy voice that turned her into one of the central figures of the 1960s music scene with hits that still resonate – Dream a Little Dream of Me, Make Your Own Kind of Music, Lovin’ Spoonful, Do You Believe in Magic, Summer in the City, California Dreaming. As an overweight Jewish girl she didn’t fit the usual mould but she was talented and determined.
Her daughter has written a memoir about her life, dispelling the myth that her mother died from choking on a ham sandwich when in reality she died of a heart attack at 32.
Born 19 September 1941 9pm Baltimore, MD, Cass battled obesity from a young age and as a teenager she was prescribed amphetamines to speed up her metabolism. Crash dieting and drug taking would feature over the course of the rest of Cass’s life though she had no drugs in her system when she died – spookily in the same London hotel bedroom Keith Moon died in four years later.
Cass Elliott had two brief marriages and produced one child, who did not learn of her paternity until she was 19 and has gone on to become a singer. “When she was in town, she was very involved,” is how she diplomatically sums up Cass’s mothering style.
Which fits with Cass Elliott’s 5th house Sun, Neptune in Virgo – musically talented, a performer, produced a creative child, but less than hands-on because of her touring and performing career. She also had Venus in Scorpio in her 6th which would be prone to over-weight, especially since it squared Pluto. Her Moon in Virgo was in her 4th, unaspected apart from a mild sextile to Venus – she would be hyper-anxious with a Moon Sun in Virgo and would have difficulty integrating a home and family existence into her lifestyle.
Her Sun Neptune were trine Saturn in Taurus conjunct Uranus close to her Ascendant from the 12th – inventive, inspired, earthy, stubborn. With an upfront, outspoken Mercury opposition Mars in Aries.
When she died on 29 July 1974, tr Uranus was opposition her Mars (which can be a heart attack signature for some) with tr Mars also exactly square her Uranus. Her Solar Arc Sun Neptune conjunction were also just moving into her 6th house of health.
Her daughter, Owen Vanessa Elliot, 26 April 1967, who was brought up by Cass’s sister from aged 7, is a Sun North Node in Taurus (a favoured singer’s sign since it rules the throat). She also has a yod of Mercury in Aries inconjunct Pluto Uranus sextile Neptune; with Mercury opposing Mars (like her mother but in reverse signs). A yod apex planet Mercury starts life scattered but can become a good communicator and teacher. Owen’s Taurus Sun homes in on her mother’s 6th house Venus, which may be why the rumours of the ham-sandwich death have bothered her so much. Happily her Mercury opposition Mars squares onto Jupiter in Cancer giving her luck, optimism and enthusiasm.
ADD ON: I forgot to mention at the time her Chiron sitting on her IC in Leo seems significant. It would attract her to unattainable men – and she never seemed able to forge a meaningful commitment to a partner. Plus it may point to the wound her weight struggle played, damaging her Leonine wish to be the fairest of them all and spontaneous in her self-expression.
Her good friend David Crosby of Crosby stills Nash & Young wrote in his memoirs that she had a fondness for heroin right along with him and that she overdosed and that’s what caused her death. She was very secretive about her heroin use.
I heard that she had a real hard time in that band because of her weight. Of course we never know if everything we read is true. I am glad her daughter has a career.