Mama Cass Elliot Net Worth

What was Mama Cass Elliot's net worth?

Mama Cass Elliot was an American singer and actress who had a net worth of $20 thousand at the time of her death (after adjusting for inflation). Technically speaking, at the time of her death, Cass (birth name Ellen Naomi Cohen) was financially insolvent. That's the bad news. The good news is that her sole heir, her daughter Owen, has reportedly earned seven figures from royalties over the decades. As a solo artist and group member, Mama Cass sold over 100 million albums during her lifetime worldwide.

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Mama Cass was born in Baltimore, Maryland in September 1941 and passed away in July 1974. She was best known for being a member of the vocal group the Mamas & the Papas. The group formed in 1965 and released their debut studio album If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears was released in 1966 and reached #1 on the Billboard 200 and #3 in the UK. Their self-titled album was released in 1966 and reached #4 on the Billboard 200.

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The group's album The Mamas & The Papas Deliver was released in 1967 and reached #1 on the U.S. Cashbox chart and #2 on the Billboard 200. They released the album The Papas & the Mamas in 1978 and People Like Us in 1971. The Mamas & the Papas had a #1 single on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the U.S. Cashbox charts with "Monday, Monday". Mama Cass release five solo albums and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

False Ham Sandwich Legend

Mama Cass died of a heart attack on July 29, 1974 at the age of 32. In the years and decades after her death, a false legend spread that claimed Mama Cass died from choking on a ham sandwich. The legend was reinvigorated in the 1997 film "Austin Powers" when titular character, played by Mike Myers, made a Mama Cass ham sandwich joke:

As if losing your mother at the age of seven wasn't bad enough, Cass' surviving daughter Owen has been haunted by the ham sandwich story for her entire life. For her 2024 biography "My Mama, Cass: A Memoir," Owen went to great lengths to track down the origin of the ham sandwich story and to dispel it once and for all. She recounts how she was constantly asked about the sandwich, even as a young child by strangers and her friends' parents.

According to Owen's research, the ham sandwich story originated from a Hollywood Reporter columnist named Sue Cameron. Owen reached out to Sue to understand the backstory. Sue claimed that she heard that anecdote from Mama Cass' manager Allan Carr soon after the singer's death. She apparently called Mama Cass' apartment in London not knowing that the Mama Cass had died. When he picked up the phone, Carr was reportedly crying and said "There's a half-eaten ham sandwich on the nightstand." Apparently hoping to offset rumors that her death was drug related, a panicked Carr told Sue Cameron, "You have to do this. Just say she died choking on the sandwich." No drugs were found in Cass's system.