Leah Kunkel Leah Kunkel Leah Kunkel (born June 15, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter and entertainment law attorney. Leah Kunkel was born Leah Cohen on June 15, 1948 in Baltimore, Maryland. She is the younger sister of Cass Elliot from the folk rock vocal group The Mamas & the Papas. In 1968 she married American drummer and music producer Russ Kunkel. Following her sister's death in 1974, Kunkel was given custody of Cass Elliot's daughter, Owen. The couple also raised their son, Nathaniel, an Emmy Award winning sound engineer. After being signed to Dunhill records, Kunkel recorded her first record "Billy"
The Mamas & the Papas critical favor. "Rolling Stone" gave it four stars when it was reissued in 2006, calling it "a genuine lost treasure". Denny Doherty said that if the Mamas & the Papas had recorded the album, it might have been their best. Phillips wrote songs for the soundtrack to "Brewster McCloud" (Robert Altman, 1970) and original music for the soundtracks to "Myra Breckinridge" (Michael Sarne, 1970) and "The Man Who Fell to Earth" (Nicolas Roeg, 1976). He also wrote the ill-fated stage musical "Man on the Moon" (1975) and songs with and for other artists, including most of the tracks on the