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NEW YORK - The family that stays together can arrive together on top of the Top 100 singles chart. This is the happy case for the Cowsills, MGM Records' family act under the managerial reins of Lenny & Myrna Stogel's talent management firm.
The group, a mother-daughter-and sons tema, currently has the number 1 single in the country, "The Rain, the Park & Other Things." And "other things" figure strongly in the rapid rise of the group since their debut on MGM last Sept.
As "Rain" began to rise, Ed Sullivan signed for a 10-appearance schedule, the first of which has taken place. In addition, a sure-fire index of wide success was the Stogels' retaining of ILAMI, the merchandising division of Screen Gems, to merchandise and license the Cowsill's for varied-and-sundry items. Plans are also in the works for a projected TV series, motion-pictures and an European tour.
"Artie Kornfeld, the producer and writer, brought them to us," Lenny Stogel recalls. "They were about to lose their home [in Newport, Rhode Island] and they just didn't know where to turn. I knew what they sounded like and I believed in them 100%."
MGM was similarly impressed when Stogel gave the label, already sporting the Stogels' Sam the Sham, a crack at the group. The label had them recording their big hit, written and produced by Kornfeld, an LP and sent them on a grueling 1 month trek to 22 cities at a hefty kick-off cost of $250,000.
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