Owen Elliot-Kugell will never forget the day that she spent with her mother, Cass Elliot, on the most recent day of her life.
“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 says in an interview with PEOPLE for a story that will be published in this week’s edition. “My mother was going to England to perform certain shows there, as well as perform some shows in Europe,” I said. Furthermore, it was the summertime, and I was planning on going to camp and spending time with my grandmother, with whom I had a really strong relationship.
She goes on to say, “And I remember being at the airport with her, remember walking through the airport while holding her hand.” She was just seven years old at the time. I can still vividly recall sitting with her at the gate and discussing my trip, as well as her vacation, as well as the things I was going to do and the fact that I was going to meet new friends…”I remember her taking me on the plane, finding my seat, putting my seatbelt on, and kissing me,” I said. “I remember her doing all of those things.”
“And I remember her saying, ‘Look out your window because you can see that inside the airport, the big window right there,'” Elliot-Kugell said. “And I remember her saying that.” Her words were, “I’m going to go in there and I’m going to wave,” and she went for it. In addition, she did just that. When I peered out the window, I saw her standing there, and she was waving.
On July 29, 1974, Cass Elliot, whose alto voice was used in classics such as “California Dreamin'” and “Dream a Little Dream of Me” for the folk rock group The Mamas & the Papas, passed away due to a heart attack at the age of 32. Fifty years later, her daughter, who is now 57 years old, has written a new book titled “My Mama, Cass,” in which she discusses the mother she loved and lost. The book is scheduled to be released on May 7 by Hachette Books.
In the biography, Elliot-Kugell goes into the nuances of Cass’s life, including the mystery of who Elliot-Kugell’s father was. She also discloses the real explanation behind the myth that the singer died while choking on a ham sandwich. The novel contains interviews with some of her mother’s closest friends along with the interviews.
In conclusion, Elliot-Kugell expresses that the act of writing the book was significant to her, and that she now feels “closer to [Cass] than she ever has before.”
She explains, “Because my mother wasn’t here to tell her story for herself, I really wanted to tell it as best I could because she wasn’t here to do it for herself.” “And I felt like her story should come from her family.”
