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BARRY's changed a lot over the last three years. "Back then," he jokes, "I was a hundred-pound weakling!" Barry's grown from 5'1" in 1967 to 5'7" today. And, at 16, he now weighs 140 pounds.
Like all The Cowsills, his hair is quite a bit longer at the back and sides, though he's still got his part in the same place. And Barry's hazel eyes are still as laughing and friendly as they were three years ago. "But," he says, "I think I've lost a few of my freckles."
Barry used to say his favorite musical instrument was the cello. But now, though he's played bass guitar with the group ever since John took over the drums, he says the drums are his first love. (They even give girls some competition!)
Barry once thought he wanted to be a scientist when he was older. Right now, though, he's not so sure. He thinks he might want to be a naval officer or a drummer.
Barry has some brand-new plans, too. One of his favorite dreams is to build a cabin in the Rocky Mountains and live there with nothing but some animals for company.
Little brother JOHN was an inch taller than Barry back in 1967, but he weighed the same. Now he's still an inch taller and still weighs the same! "It's pretty convenient," says John, "because we can still wear some of each other's clothes."
You can always tell John by his smile and _ his freckles. His smile's still the same, and he hasn't lost a freckle. "But my hair's the second longest in the family now," he says, "next to Susie's."
Fourteen-year-old John's ambitions have changed quite a bit since the early days of The Cowsills. He used to want to be a baker "because I love birthday cake and lemon pies." But now he expects to be a surgeon, or possibly a drum teacher. "I still wouldn't mind being an astronaut, though," he says.
One of the changes John's happiest about is in the sound of his voice. "Telephone operators don't say 'Yes, Ma'am' to me so much anymore."
When John was eleven, his idea of the perfect girlfriend was his mother. Though he still digs Mom, he's developed a new interest in girls. John's honest enough to admit that, although he likes girls who have good personalities, he doesn't mind good looks, too!
SUSIE was only eight years old when she won the right to sing with the group. "They used to practice on the porch in Newport," she says, "and I kept asking to join. I found out that if they didn't yell at me, it meant I wasn't in the group. Finally they yelled at me. I was in."
Susie's grown a lot in the last three years—from 4'4" and 58 pounds to 4'10" and 85 pounds. "But I guess I'll always be the littlest," she says with a sigh. Susie isn't the Cowsill with the shortest hair anymore, though. Now hers is the longest.
Three years ago, you'd almost always see Susie wearing a dress, but now she wears pants most of the time (sometimes with one of Barry's or John's outgrown shirts). "I never wear dresses in the house," Susie says. "It's so awkward. You can't do anything."
Back in 1967 PAUL wasn't even a member of The Cowsills. Instead, he helped out from the sidelines—as road manager. Then in 1968, during the group's tour of Italy, Bob had to return to college, and Paul, who'd been taking trumpet lessons and sitting in during rehearsals, stepped into his place. He soon proved himself a fantastic singer and earned the nickname of "Soul Brother."
Paul's grown a couple of inches since those days, and is now 6'1" and weighs 150 pounds. But he's still just the right size to borrow Bob's shirts.
Three years ago, Paul's main interest was sports. Although he still hasn't given up his ambition to be a gym teacher, he's planning on sticking with music for the present.
BOB's life has probably changed the most of all The Cowsills in the last three years, because he's now a married man. In June, 1970, he married lovely blonde Nanci Roberts, a girl he met more than two years before in French class at Hollywood College.
But that doesn't mean he's leaving the group. Bob's still as much a Cowsill as ever, and music's an important part of his life. Three years ago, Bob thought he might want to be a teacher someday. But right now he's still deeply involved with music.
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