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Mom & her offspring: The Cowsills, the family musical group that was such a hit here a few months back for The Light-sponsored auto show, will be back in town next month a series of shows at leading supperclubs and military clubs . . . The Cowsills, whose recording of “Indian Lake” sold more than a million copies, will perform at the Old San Francisco Steakhouse and Kerryville’s Inn of the Hills, October 4 – at Sheraton Motor Inn and Lackland Officers Club, Oct. 5 – at Lackland Special Services Club, Turtle Creek Country Club and Randolph Officers Club, Oct 17 – and back at Randolph and Brooks NCO Club, Oct. 31 . . . How it all started:
The Cowsills began their musical career at home as a family amusement and nothing more . . . while they were in San Antonio earlier, Mama Cowsill (Barbara) said her sons Bob and Bill first started with music as a guitar duo, performing for hometown functions in the suburbs of Newport, R.I. . . . son Barry soon joined them on drums, later switching to bass guitar when son John became the group’s drummer . . . at this point in The Cowsill career, the performing Cowsills were four . . . a little later, the boys decided they needed a female voice, and they immediately turned to Mother Barbara . . . and, as mothers have a way of doing, Barbara really got the group clicking.
First mom, then success. With the four brothers and their mother, The Cowsills cut a demonstration record of “The Rain” . . . looking back, Barbara Cowsill admits, “I had struggled for years raising my family, and at showtime I frankly didn’t want to be left behind” . . . and it was a good thing for the boys they put Mom in the act, for with her the record of “The Rain” was picked up by MGM and became the first Cowsill million-seller.
More hits followed: The first success was followed by “We Can Fly” . . . and fly it did, becoming a top-selling LP album . . . something new was added to the group: Young Susan Cowsill . . . other top recordings for them included “Captain Sad and His Shp of Fools,” “Hair,” “The Best of the Cowsills” and “II x II” . . . they then got national televisions bookings on such top shows as those hosted by Ed Sullivan, Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, Dick Cavett and Dean Martin … and did the theme music for the TV series, “Love, American Style” and for the motion picture, “The Impossible Years” . . . they’ve become regulars at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.
All round Mom: Pictured below are the little Cowsills fittingly grouped by Light artist Raul Gutierrez with the matriarch of the talented clan.
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