Bill Cowsill
Encyclopedia
William "Bill" Cowsill, Jr., also known as Billy, (January 9, 1948 – February 18, 2006) was an American singer best known as lead singer and guitarist of The Cowsills
who had three top 10 singles in the late 1960s.
. At a young age Bill began singing with his brother, Bob
, and they formed The Cowsills
in 1965 with their brothers: Barry
on bass; Bob on guitar and organ; and John
on drums. Another brother, Paul, their sister Susan
and mother Barbara joined the band later. The Cowsills
started playing around Newport before they recorded their first single "All I Really Wanna Be is Me" in 1967 on the independent label, Joda.
While the first single failed to chart, an appearance on the NBC Today Show to promote it led to Mercury Records
offering them a contract. However, three singles on that label failed to spark interest, and they were dropped. Artie Kornfeld
, the producer of the singles, remained convinced of the band's potential and persuaded Barbara to sing on the single "The Rain, the Park and Other Things", which was released on MGM Records
. However, it is Bill who sang the lead vocal part on "The Rain, the Park, and Other Things."
This single sold over a million copies in late 1967 and reached number 2 on the Billboard tracks. Their debut album We Can Fly spawned another hit with the title track. In 1968, "Indian Lake" became another top 10 hit, while in 1969 their version of the title track of Hair
also reached number 2.
The band made regular television appearances, which led to Columbia Pictures
considering a television program based on their story and starring most of the members of the band. This would later become The Partridge Family
, with David Cassidy
playing the lead singer.
Bill's involvement with The Cowsills
came to an abrupt end in 1969 when his father, Bud, caught Bill smoking marijuana. According to his brother Bob
, Bill was immediately kicked out of the band. His dismissal was the beginning of the end of the Cowsills as a group.
Bill was briefly considered as a replacement for Brian Wilson
in The Beach Boys
' live performances, and in 1971 he released a solo album, Nervous Breakthrough http://waddywachtelinfo.com/BillCowsillNervousBreakthrough.html, on MGM, which failed to chart.
By 1972, after Susan, Paul and Barbara opted out, Bill briefly rejoined Bob, Barry and John, reforming the original Cowsills' lineup, and released one single, "Covered Wagon," which also failed to chart (possibly owing to, among other things, the fact that the song was hard rock, a significant departure from their previous bubblegum
sound). Shortly afterward, The Cowsills disbanded completely in a storm of bitter acrimony that left some members estranged from each other for several years.
, British Columbia
in the 1980s where he fronted The Blue Shadows, who were known for their Everly Brothers-like harmonies. In 1990 Bill produced the second album for rockabilly
act, The Rattled Roosters
. In 1993, The Blue Shadows landed a deal with Sony and released its debut album, “On the Floor of Heaven” receiving great reviews and found themselves on the forefront of a Canadian Alt.country movement. In 1995, the Blue Shadows recorded its second and last album, “Lucky to Me”. During this time, a drug addiction that began in the 70s became worse, until Bill was rescued by members of Calgary
's music scene, including Jann Arden
.
in Calgary, where he was studying toward a degree in psychology. In late 1999, Billy came to know the members of local Calgary hard rock act Optimal Impact. He went on to produce and arrange the vocals for Optimal Impact's debut album "Sun Sittin'" in July of 2000. The album saw modest radio play, and included the hit song "Serenity" which, despite the band's reputation as a hard rock group, charted a regional top ten on a country radio station in Dallas Texas, USA, with additional recognition amongst other rock stations across North America. Other features from the album included the title track "Sun Sittin'", for which Billy created the term "Surf Metal". He also assisted other Calgary-based artists, such as co-producing Dyin' to Go, the 2002 debut album from Calgary country and blues singer, Ralph Boyd Johnson.He produced a number of releases for Alberta groups, and did guest vocal spots on CDs such as roots rock group The Shackshakers
and Gary Pig Gold
's Gene Pitney tribute He's A Rebel.
After releasing Live At The Mecca Cafe: Volume 2, which showed Billy's commanding stage presence, the band rarely played due to Bill's health problems.
, Alberta
. He had been in poor health for the last few years of his life, suffering from emphysema
, Cushing syndrome and osteoporosis
.
Family members learned of his death while holding a memorial service the same day for his brother and fellow bandmate Barry
, a victim of the August 2005 Hurricane Katrina
, whose body had not been found and identified until January 2006.
The Cowsills
The Cowsills are an American singing group from Newport, Rhode Island. They specialized in harmonies and the ability to sing and play music at an early age. The band was formed in the spring of 1965 by brothers Bill, Bob, and Barry, then shortly thereafter added John...
who had three top 10 singles in the late 1960s.
The Cowsills
Bill Cowsill was born in Middletown, Rhode IslandMiddletown, Rhode Island
Middletown is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 16,150 at the 2010 census. It lies to the south of Portsmouth and to the north of Newport on Aquidneck Island, hence the name "Middletown."-Geography:...
. At a young age Bill began singing with his brother, Bob
Bob Cowsill
Robert "Bob" Cowsill is an American musician and member of the musical group The Cowsills. He is the third of the seven Cowsill children and is fraternal twins with Richard, the only Cowsill child who was not a part of the group during its 1960s incarnations...
, and they formed The Cowsills
The Cowsills
The Cowsills are an American singing group from Newport, Rhode Island. They specialized in harmonies and the ability to sing and play music at an early age. The band was formed in the spring of 1965 by brothers Bill, Bob, and Barry, then shortly thereafter added John...
in 1965 with their brothers: Barry
Barry Cowsill
Barry Cowsill was an American musician and member of the musical group The Cowsills. He was born in Newport, Rhode Island. The fifth of seven children, Barry soon became the drummer of his brothers' band, playing popular tunes at local dance clubs...
on bass; Bob on guitar and organ; and John
John Cowsill
John Cowsill is an American musician, best known for his work as a singer and drummer with his siblings' band, The Cowsills. He is currently a drummer and vocalist for the current The Beach Boys touring band, which features original Beach Boys Mike Love and Bruce Johnston...
on drums. Another brother, Paul, their sister Susan
Susan Cowsill
Susan Claire Cowsill is a musician, vocalist and songwriter. She is the youngest member of The Cowsills and the only daughter of parents Bud and Barbara Cowsill.-The Cowsills:...
and mother Barbara joined the band later. The Cowsills
The Cowsills
The Cowsills are an American singing group from Newport, Rhode Island. They specialized in harmonies and the ability to sing and play music at an early age. The band was formed in the spring of 1965 by brothers Bill, Bob, and Barry, then shortly thereafter added John...
started playing around Newport before they recorded their first single "All I Really Wanna Be is Me" in 1967 on the independent label, Joda.
While the first single failed to chart, an appearance on the NBC Today Show to promote it led to Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
offering them a contract. However, three singles on that label failed to spark interest, and they were dropped. Artie Kornfeld
Artie Kornfeld
Artie Kornfeld is an American musician, record producer and music executive. He is perhaps best known as the music promoter for the Woodstock Festival held in 1969.- History :...
, the producer of the singles, remained convinced of the band's potential and persuaded Barbara to sing on the single "The Rain, the Park and Other Things", which was released on MGM Records
MGM Records
MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...
. However, it is Bill who sang the lead vocal part on "The Rain, the Park, and Other Things."
This single sold over a million copies in late 1967 and reached number 2 on the Billboard tracks. Their debut album We Can Fly spawned another hit with the title track. In 1968, "Indian Lake" became another top 10 hit, while in 1969 their version of the title track of Hair
Hair (musical)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
also reached number 2.
The band made regular television appearances, which led to Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
considering a television program based on their story and starring most of the members of the band. This would later become The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family is an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974, the last new episode airing on March 23, 1974, on the ABC network, as part of a Friday-night lineup...
, with David Cassidy
David Cassidy
David Bruce Cassidy is an American actor, singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his role as the character of Keith Partridge in the 1970s musical/sitcom The Partridge Family. He was one of pop culture's most celebrated teen idols, enjoying a successful pop career in the 1970s, and...
playing the lead singer.
Bill's involvement with The Cowsills
The Cowsills
The Cowsills are an American singing group from Newport, Rhode Island. They specialized in harmonies and the ability to sing and play music at an early age. The band was formed in the spring of 1965 by brothers Bill, Bob, and Barry, then shortly thereafter added John...
came to an abrupt end in 1969 when his father, Bud, caught Bill smoking marijuana. According to his brother Bob
The Cowsills
The Cowsills are an American singing group from Newport, Rhode Island. They specialized in harmonies and the ability to sing and play music at an early age. The band was formed in the spring of 1965 by brothers Bill, Bob, and Barry, then shortly thereafter added John...
, Bill was immediately kicked out of the band. His dismissal was the beginning of the end of the Cowsills as a group.
Bill was briefly considered as a replacement for Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
in The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
' live performances, and in 1971 he released a solo album, Nervous Breakthrough http://waddywachtelinfo.com/BillCowsillNervousBreakthrough.html, on MGM, which failed to chart.
By 1972, after Susan, Paul and Barbara opted out, Bill briefly rejoined Bob, Barry and John, reforming the original Cowsills' lineup, and released one single, "Covered Wagon," which also failed to chart (possibly owing to, among other things, the fact that the song was hard rock, a significant departure from their previous bubblegum
Bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop is a genre of pop music with an upbeat sound contrived and marketed to appeal to pre-teens and teenagers, produced in an assembly-line process, driven by producers, often using unknown singers.Bubblegum's classic period ran from 1967 to 1972...
sound). Shortly afterward, The Cowsills disbanded completely in a storm of bitter acrimony that left some members estranged from each other for several years.
The Blue Shadows
Bill ended up in VancouverVancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
in the 1980s where he fronted The Blue Shadows, who were known for their Everly Brothers-like harmonies. In 1990 Bill produced the second album for rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
act, The Rattled Roosters
Rattled Roosters
Rattled Roosters are a Rockabilly band from Vancouver, Canada moved to Los Angeles, California.- History :The Rattled Roosters started busking on the streets of Vancouver, British Columbia and spent the early nineties touring Canada and the West Coast...
. In 1993, The Blue Shadows landed a deal with Sony and released its debut album, “On the Floor of Heaven” receiving great reviews and found themselves on the forefront of a Canadian Alt.country movement. In 1995, the Blue Shadows recorded its second and last album, “Lucky to Me”. During this time, a drug addiction that began in the 70s became worse, until Bill was rescued by members of Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
's music scene, including Jann Arden
Jann Arden
Jann Arden is a Canadian singer-songwriter.-Life and career:Arden was born and raised near Calgary in Springbank, Alberta and attended Springbank Community High School. Her breakthrough came with her critically acclaimed 1993 debut album Time for Mercy and her first single "I Would Die For You"...
.
The Co-Dependents
Newly sober, Billy formed The Co-Dependents, a country-rock quartet, in 1998 in Calgary. Other members were Steve Pineo (guitar and vocals), Tim Leacock (bass and vocals) and Ross Watson (drums). Billy considered the band to be a "weekend party band", but they were much-loved on Calgary's thriving roots-music scene. At this time, he was also enrolled at Mount Royal CollegeMount Royal College
Mount Royal University is a public university in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1910 as a primary and secondary school, Mount Royal became a post-secondary institution in 1931 as Mount Royal College offering transfer courses to the University of Alberta and later to the University of Calgary...
in Calgary, where he was studying toward a degree in psychology. In late 1999, Billy came to know the members of local Calgary hard rock act Optimal Impact. He went on to produce and arrange the vocals for Optimal Impact's debut album "Sun Sittin'" in July of 2000. The album saw modest radio play, and included the hit song "Serenity" which, despite the band's reputation as a hard rock group, charted a regional top ten on a country radio station in Dallas Texas, USA, with additional recognition amongst other rock stations across North America. Other features from the album included the title track "Sun Sittin'", for which Billy created the term "Surf Metal". He also assisted other Calgary-based artists, such as co-producing Dyin' to Go, the 2002 debut album from Calgary country and blues singer, Ralph Boyd Johnson.He produced a number of releases for Alberta groups, and did guest vocal spots on CDs such as roots rock group The Shackshakers
The Shackshakers
The Shackshakers are a 4 piece variety band based out of Duluth, Minnesota, USA. Shawn Nagy formed the group in Carlyle, Saskatchewan, Canada in the Summer of 1988....
and Gary Pig Gold
Gary Pig Gold
Gary Pig Gold is a singer-songwriter, record producer, filmmaker and author. His fanzine was Canada’s first independently-published music magazine, and among the recording artists he has worked with are Pat Boone, Dave Rave, Endless Summer, Simply Saucer and Shane Faubert.-History:He formed his...
's Gene Pitney tribute He's A Rebel.
After releasing Live At The Mecca Cafe: Volume 2, which showed Billy's commanding stage presence, the band rarely played due to Bill's health problems.
Death
Cowsill died on February 18, 2006, aged 58, at his home in CalgaryCalgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
. He had been in poor health for the last few years of his life, suffering from emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
, Cushing syndrome and osteoporosis
Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a disease of bones that leads to an increased risk of fracture. In osteoporosis the bone mineral density is reduced, bone microarchitecture is deteriorating, and the amount and variety of proteins in bone is altered...
.
Family members learned of his death while holding a memorial service the same day for his brother and fellow bandmate Barry
Barry Cowsill
Barry Cowsill was an American musician and member of the musical group The Cowsills. He was born in Newport, Rhode Island. The fifth of seven children, Barry soon became the drummer of his brothers' band, playing popular tunes at local dance clubs...
, a victim of the August 2005 Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
, whose body had not been found and identified until January 2006.
General External Sources
- [ Allmusic.com Bill Cowsill entry]
- [ Allmusic.com The Cowsills entry]
- [ Allmusic.com The Blue Shadows entry]