For many years, no one knew who had fathered Cass Elliot’s child. Now the identity is out.
It was more or less an open secret in Fairfax, California that Chuck Day was the dad. Chuck had a lot of stories, and that was one of them. Chuck was also an alcoholic and a heavy smoker, probably the last person who should raise a child. Mama Cass made the right decision.
Chuck had played bass for performances of The Mamas and The Papas. He was a great musician, a left-handed guitarist who could also play a right handed guitar. Chuck had played with Johnny Rivers too. and said he created the guitar lick intro to Johnny’s hit, “Secret Agent Man.” He said, “I had to come up with something memorable, that Johnny could actually play.”
Chuck was a fixture in the Fairfax music scene, because the town is small, and the only thing he did other than drinking was playing music. When my band was playing down the street from his band in one of the two bars in town with live music, sometimes Chuck would drop in during a break and join us for a song.
Chuck started drinking early in the day, in the bar where lived upstairs and ran the house band. He drank himself to death at the age of 65.
A terribly flawed man, he was a great musician and also a good friend. Now the world knows about Chuck and Mama Cass.