Sophie Tucker lung cancer and kidney failure on February 9, 1966, aged 79, in New York City. She had continued working until the months before her death, playing shows at the Latin Quarter just weeks before. She is buried in Emanuel Cemetery, in Wethersfield, Connecticut, her home state. Tucker's comic and singing styles are credited with influencing later female entertainers including Mae West, Rusty Warren, Carol Channing, Totie Fields, Joan Rivers, Roseanne Barr, Ethel Merman, "Mama" Cass Elliot of The Mamas & the Papas, and most notably Bette Midler, who has included "Soph" as one of her many stage characters. She also
People Like Us (The Mamas & the Papas album) People Like Us (The Mamas & the Papas album) People Like Us is the fifth and final studio album released by The Mamas & the Papas, in November 1971 (three years after the group originally split). This album came to be because the former members of the group were still under contract with Dunhill Records. The group had originally been signed to the label when it was run by their original producer Lou Adler, but by 1971, Dunhill's distributor, ABC Records, had purchased the label and discovered the clause in the group's original contract. According to their contract, the group