Bill Cowsill

William Joseph Cowsill Jr. (January 9, 1948 – February 18, 2006) was an American singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was the lead singer and guitarist of The Cowsills, who had three top-10 singles in the late 1960s. From the mid-1970s until his death, he was a successful alt-country artist and producer in Canada.

Bill Cowsill was born in Middletown, Rhode Island, the eldest child of the seven Cowsill children—six boys and one girl—and was named after his father, William Joseph "Bud" Cowsill (1925–1992). At a young age, Bill began singing with his younger brother Bob (born August 26, 1949), playing guitars provided for them by their father, who at the time was serving in the U.S. Navy. The brothers had originally wanted to form a rock band. In 1965, at their father's insistence, Bill and Bob formed The Cowsills with their brothers Barry on bass and John on drums. After his retirement from the navy, their father became their full-time manager. He was physically and emotionally abusive towards his family, in both his spousal and parental roles; this abuse continued during his role as the group's manager.

The Cowsills started playing around Newport and, in 1965, recorded their first single, "All I Really Wanna Be is Me," on the independent label JoDa Records, which was founded by Johnny Nash. Cowsill recalled that Nash wanted the band to be a "white rhythm and blues band" and sent them home with Jimmy Reed albums, which is how Cowsill learned to play harmonica. Although the single failed to chart, an appearance on the NBC Today Show to promote it was seen by Shelby Singleton, who offered them a contract with Mercury Records. In 1966, they released three more singles: "Most of All", "Party Girl", and "What's It Gonna Be Like". These songs failed to spark interest. The band was dropped by Mercury, but they were discovered by Artie Kornfeld and signed to MGM Records. Kornfeld persuaded the children's mother, Barbara, to contribute backing vocals behind Bill's lead on "The Rain, The Park & Other Things", a song written by Steve Duboff and Artie Kornfeld and released in 1967, as a single and on their debut album, The Cowsills. At this point, the brothers' younger sister Susan and brother Paul joined the band. Richard wanted to join the group; Bud would not allow it.

"The Rain, The Park & Other Things" sold over a million copies and reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Bill and Bob co-produced their second album, We Can Fly, which was released in December 1967. It spawned a second Top 40 hit with the title track. "We Can Fly" was written by Bob Cowsill, Bill Cowsill, Steve Duboff, and Artie Kornfeld, and would be successfully recorded by several acts, notably Al Hirt and Lawrence Welk. Bill produced the band's third album, Captain Sad And His Ship Of Fools, which was released in September 1968. From this album, "Indian Lake" became another Top 10 hit, but Cowsill felt that it was an inferior song, and he fired the producer, Wes Farrell. Farrell said he doubted that Cowsill could do better. When Carl Reiner asked the Cowsills to perform a musical skit on his 1969 TV special, which involved modeling wigs from Japan, Cowsill produced a version of the title track from the rock musical Hair. It peaked at No. 2 and sold 2.5 million copies.

The Cowsills were noted for their ability to sing multiple-part harmonies with remarkable accuracy and were one of the most popular musical acts in America. This led to Columbia Pictures division Screen Gems considering a sitcom based on their story and starring most of the members of the band; the deal was abandoned when the producers of the show wanted to replace Barbara in the cast. The show would later become The Partridge Family, with David Cassidy playing the lead singer and with his step-mother Shirley Jones as the mother in the show.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.