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 in 1999. Doherty died of an abdominal aortic aneurysm at his home in Mississauga, Ontario, on January 19, 2007. He was survived by his three children, Jessica Woods, Emberly Doherty, and John Doherty. A documentary by Paul Ledoux, "Here I Am: Denny Doherty and the Mamas and the Papas", premiered at Halifax's Atlantic Film Festival in September 2009 and screened on the Bravo cable network as part of the Great Canadian Biographies series in February 2010. While Michelle Phillips' only solo album, "Victim of Romance" (1977), made little impact, she went on to build a successful career as an actress.