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Barry Cowsill, a member of a family band whose rise from the honky-tonks and hotel lounges of Newport, R.I., to the top of the nation’s charts served as the inspiration for the TV series “The Partridge Family,” was found dead last week on a New Orleans wharf four months after he disappeared when Hurricane Katrina hit the city. He was 51.
Mr. Cowsill’s body recovered Dec. 28, was identified Tuesday with dental records. The corner had not determined the cause of death, but believed it was related to the devastating storm, which struck the city Aug. 29.
His family said they ahd last heard from Mr. Cowsill on Sept. 1, when he left phone messages for his siter. He was in New Orleans to record an album.
Mr. Cowsill ahd also lived in New Orleans for periods of time in the past two decades. His sister, Susan, is also a performer who lived in that city.
Before personal acrimony and charges of money mismagagement dissolved the band and temporarily divided the family, The Cowsills were America’s singing family.
Four Cowsill brothers played in the band; Barry on bass, Bill on guitar, Bob on guitar and organ, and John on drums. Their mother, Barbara, and little sister, Susan, eventually joined the group. Their father, William “Bud” Cowsill, a retired Navy man, became the manager.
Living in Middletown, R.I., they were performing in a Newport club in 1965 when they were spotted by a producer from NBC’s “Today” show, who booked them for an appearance that led to a record deal.
By November 1967, their first million-seller, “The Rain, The Park & Other Things,” was atop the national pop charts. Wtihin two more years, five other MGM albums were released, with “Hair,” “Indian Lake,” “Love American Style,” “We Can Fly,” and “The Candy Kid” becoming favorites of the era.
The family had their own television special in 1968, and they made guest appearances on Ed Sullivan’s show and the “Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson.
By 1970, however, the family’s fame and fortunes had reversed. The purchase of an expensive mansion in Rhode Island and speculation in land, combined with declining revenues from their albums, put the family on the brink of bankruptcy.
The band brok up in the 1970’s amid bitterness that left some members estranged for several years.
“It wasn’t just the end of a business – it was the end of a family,” Bob Cowsill said in a 1990 interview.
The Partridge Family, a fictional family band gronted by David Cassidy and Shirley Jones, was the center of a 1970 to 1974 TV series. The band had its own run of hit songs.
Barbara Cowsill died in 1985.
Mr. Cowsill erleased the solo album “As Is” in 1998.
In 2004, The Cowsills came together for a Fenway Park performance during the American League Championship Series. Before Game Three between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, they sang the national anthem and their hit “Hair,” in homage to Johnny Damon, Manny Ramirez, and the rest of the uniquely coiffed players of the Sox.
They said their mother had been a rabid Sox fan.
In additon to his siblings, Mr. Cowsill leaves two daughters and a son.
Richard Cowsill said tht no memorial service was planned and that his brother would be cremated. “He always said, ‘Whe I leave this place, you better party.’ And that’s what we’re planning to do,” he said.
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