The Cowsills

The Cowsills are a family singing group known for their sublime harmonies and their ability to create and perform them at a very early age. If that reminds you of a certain ‘70s sitcom, don’t be surprised since The Cowsills were the real-life inspiration for the ABC series The Partridge Family (aired from September 1970 to August 1974) and were offered the opportunity to play their corresponding parts on this iconic piece of American pop culture.

Based in Newport, Rhode Island, the group’s history begins in 1965, when three of the Cowsill brothers, guitarist Bill, guitarist Bob and drummer Barry, started a group. John joined shortly afterward, and when he learned how to play drums, Barry switched to bass. They played around town, were a regular act at Bannister’s Wharf and, after some initial success, were joined by their mother (Barbara) and siblings (Paul and Susan). Their father, William “Bud” Cowsill, managed the group and Bob’s twin brother Richard was their road manager until leaving to serve in the military during the Vietnam War a few years later. When the group expanded to full family membership, the six siblings were between ages eight and 19.

The Partridge Family, Debut album, #2 Hot 100 single

ABC approached the Cowsills while the series was in development in early 1970, explaining that the network wanted Shirley Jones to play Barbara as mother/band member, but Bud disagreed vehemently and that ended the Cowsill’s participation and involvement. To this day, The Cowsills and Jones remain friends, however, and the band still occasionally sings the only song ever covered by both The Cowsills and The Partridge Family, “I Really Want to Know You,” in concert.

The Cowsills cut a handful of singles on Joda and Phillips Records in 1965/66, but all of them met with only modest success. After Leonard Stogel took over managing the band, however, things changed because he landed them a deal with MGM in 1967. Barbara joined the group just in time to record their first album, which reached #31 in the Billboard 200 and included the hit “The Rain, the Park and Other Things,” featuring Bill on lead vocals. That track sold over a million copies, hit #2 in the Billboard Hot 100 and saw significant airplay in the UK and Europe.

Soon after the first album dropped, the band expanded to include Paul and Susan and, with the success of “The Rain, the Park and Other Things,” quickly became a popular national act, making an appearances in the ‘60s and ‘70s on American Bandstand, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Tonight Show, The Johnny Cash Show and even – as off-brand as it sounds – Playboy After Dark.

“Indian Lake,” Hair, Other projects/activities

The group scored other million-selling hits with “Indian Lake” in 1968 and with the title song from the musical Hair, in 1969. From 1968 to 1972, the siblings played an average of 200 shows a year and were among the most popular acts on the American concert scene. There have been various reunions since the band broke up and band members went on to different career attempts in and out of the music industry. Some produced albums and performed from time to time – but not as The Cowsills.

One project was a band called Bridey Murphy with Paul, Bill, Barry and guitarist extraordinaire Waddy Wachtel in the mid ’70’s. In the years after the band split, Susan continued her musical career with The Continental Drifters, a group that included members of The Bangles, The db’s and The Dream Syndicate; she now leads her own band with husband Russ Broussard on drums. Since 2000, John has been drumming, playing keyboards and singing with The Beach Boys; he’s married to Vicki Peterson, guitarist for The Bangles and The Continental Drifters. Fun fact: In the early ’80s, John was a member of the band Tommy Twotone and his backing vocals and percussion can be heard on their hit “Jenny (867-5309).”

After working as sound engineer for Helen Reddy, Paul left music for a career in the construction industry. Today, when not on the road with the band, he primarily works as a farmer in Oregon. Bob has had a successful career outside the music industry developing software for hospital emergency departments. Barry covered and played all the instruments on “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide ‘Cept For Me And My Monkey” on Boston Does The Beatles (1988, Fast Track Records), then recorded a solo CD, As Is, in 1998. Tragically, he drowned in 2005 in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.

Brother Bill moved to Canada in the ’70’s and was well known as a solo country artist and with his band The Blue Shadows. Billy died in Calgary, Alberta from emphysema in 2006 and, in a strange twist of fate, the family found out about their oldest brother’s death while attending  brother Barry’s memorial service at King Park Gazebo in Newport, for the ceremonial spreading of his ashes. In 1985, Barbara died of emphysema in Arizona and Bud passed away in a plane flying from his home in Mexico to a Veteran’s Administration hospital in 1992, of leukemia. Richard died in 2014 in New Mexico, of lung cancer.

Reunions, Global, Family Band – The Cowsills Story

In 1990, The Cowsills regrouped for live shows and reviews were effusive from critics and fans alike, which led them back to the studio to record the 11-track album Global. The final performance featuring all six siblings on a single stage – Bill, Bob, Richard, Barry, John and Susan – was at the Taste of Rhode Island festival in Newport in 2000. In 2004, the family sang the national anthem at Fenway Park before a Boston Red Sox game and Showtime aired Family Band — The Cowsills Story in 2011.

Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame, Rhythm of the World

In 2013, The Cowsills were inducted into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame. Two years later, Susan announced at their 50th anniversary performance at The Cutting Room in New York City that the band would return to the studio in 2016 to begin recording a new album; Bob, Paul and Susan were performing several shows a month as The Cowsills at the time, with John joining at times. During the summers of 2015 and 2016, the group performed across the US as part of The Turtles’ “Happy Together” tour.

In September 2022, Omnivore Recordings issued Rhythm of the World, an 11-song collection of Cowsills originals, their first new material in nearly 30 years. Susan, Bob and Paul are the only Cowsills on the LP. In its review of the album, Americana Highways noted the immense talent the family has demonstrated through the years and on the new LP. “The Guthrie family wasn’t the only American folk family of potent music and talented offspring,” it read. “The band really never went away and is just as magical and diversified today.”

(by A.J. Wachtel)