John Cowsill

John Patrick Cowsill (born March 2, 1956) is an American musician, best known for his work as a singer and drummer with his siblings' band the Cowsills. He has been a drummer and vocalist for the Beach Boys touring band, which featured original Beach Boys member Mike Love and long-time member Bruce Johnston. Cowsill has played keyboards for the Beach Boys touring band performing Al Jardine's and the late Carl Wilson's vocal parts. He has performed and recorded with Jan and Dean and is currently a guest lead singer for The Smithereens.

John Patrick Cowsill was born in Newport, Rhode Island to William "Bud" and Barbara Cowsill. He is the second youngest of seven children (Bill, Richard, Bob, Paul, Barry, John, Susan).

In the wake of Beatlemania, John and three of his brothers, Bill, Bob, and Barry, formed their own group solely based around the Liverpool band. Soon after, their mother Barbara and sister Susan joined. They signed with a record label in 1965 and after releasing a few non-commercially successful singles, were transferred to MGM Records in 1967. Their first single with MGM was "The Rain, the Park & Other Things".

John performed mainly backing vocals, although he sang lead on "Silver Threads and Golden Needles". From 1967 to 1969, the family group had more hit songs such as "Indian Lake", "We Can Fly", and "Hair". They split in 1972, although John re-appeared with the band for most of its reunion appearances. The Cowsills were the main inspiration for the sitcom The Partridge Family.

In the early 1980s, Cowsill recorded with the one-hit wonder band Tommy Tutone, playing percussion and singing back-up vocals on the band's hit, "867-5309/Jenny," although he did not appear in the video.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.