|
"First and foremost, we're a family. It's as simple as that."
That's how Barbara Cowsill described herself and her children, who are in Richmond for two concerts at the Mosque today.
The group which has been riding a crest of popularity among pop music fans with such hits as "Hair," "Indian Lake" and "The Path of Love," arrived tired and somewhat weary from a trip from the West Coast last night, "but we were together and happy. And that's the most important thing," she said.
The group, known appropriately as the Cowsills, consists of the mother and the kids, Bob, Paul, Barry, Johnny and Sue, ranging in age from 20 to 10.
Family life for the Cowsills is not really much different from that of any other American family, Mrs. Cowsill said, except that they have two homes.
She is referring to their regular home in Santa Monica, Calif, and to their home on the road, where they spend quite a bit of time during the summer months performing in concerts around the country.
Bob, 20 and the oldest of the children, is a junior drama major at Hollywood Junior College. The others attend the Hollywood Professional School.
Their singing has apparently had no effect on school grades, Mrs. Cowsill said. Three of the children are honor students and the other received high marks.
Bud Cowsill, head of the family, organized the group several years ago in Newport, R.I., when he "discovered that they had a little bit more than average talent." Not long after performances in New England area, they came across a song, "The Rain, the Park, and Other Things," that sent them to the top of the national hit charts.
Besides the hits that made the group popular nationwide, the Cowsills will sing "Silver Threads and Golden Needles," somewhat of a break away from the traditional pop sound, said manager Tony Lyons. He described the song as "country rock."
The Cowsills two shows, part of the National Tobacco Festival, will be at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
|
