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Cowsill Family Tragedy
Lead Singer Still missing after Hurricane Katrina
November 21, 2005
National Examiner


Cowsill
Barry Cowsill as he looks today, and with his family (circled) back in the 60's.


FORMER teen idol Barry Cowsill has been missing since shortly after Hurricane Katrina drove him out of his New Orleans home, and his worried musical family is desperately searching for him.

"Too much time has gone by," says his distraught brother Bob.

"Others have been found and reunited — Barry remains missing."

Barry, 51, was the lead singer of the '60s family band, The Cowsills, which cranked out bubblegum hits like The Rain, The Park And Other Things, Hair and Indian Lake while inspiring the TV sitcom The Partridge Family.

A bona fide heartthrob in the band's heyday, Barry had fallen on hard times. Plagued by alcohol abuse problems, he moved to New Orleans just a few weeks before Katrina's catastrophic August 29 landfall. Sources say he was slated to enter rehab in Los Angeles the following day.

But the family last heard from Barry on September 1, when he was stranded in New Orleans and left a message on his sister Susan's cell phone.

"He was pretty upset — worried and scared," says Susan, whose home in New Orleans was gutted by floodwater. "He said he'd call back, but I haven't heard from him since. It's incredibly disturbing."

Susan was living with her husband - Russ and two kids in the hard-hit Mid City section of the Big Easy.

She was on tour promoting her new album Just Believe It when the storm struck, but got Barry's frantic message begging her to come home.

Recalls brother Bob about the call: "Barry said: 'I don't know how to get out of town except wait for a bus. I've been so lonely. I hope to get in touch with you.'" Shortly after that message, some of Barry's siblings thought they spotted him on a CNN clip of Katrina survivors outside the New Orleans Convention Center.

But they've been unable to locate him and are haunted by thoughts of him wandering around lost.

"Barry could be out there and not even know where he is," says Susan.

The Cowsill family is now appealing to the public to help find Barry.

"If you know anything, have heard anything, suspect anything or have borderline psychic abilities and an inkling as to what might have happened to Barry, please contact us," says Bob.

• Anyone with information can call or contact the family through the Web site, Cowsill.com.




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