Bill Cowsill
William Joseph Cowsill Jr. was an American singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was the lead singer and guitarist of The Cowsills, who had three top-10 singles in the late 1960s. From the mid-1970s until his death, he was a successful alt-country artist and producer in Canada.
Early life, The Cowsills, 1964–1969
Bill Cowsill was born in Middletown, Rhode Island, the eldest child of the seven Cowsill children—six boys and one girl—and was named after his father, William Joseph "Bud" Cowsill. At a young age, Bill began singing with his younger brother Bob, playing guitars provided for them by their father, who at the time was serving in the U.S. Navy. The brothers had originally wanted to form a rock band. In 1965, at their father's insistence, Bill and Bob formed The Cowsills with their brothers Barry on bass and John on drums. After his retirement from the navy, their father became their full-time manager. He was physically and emotionally abusive towards his family, in both his spousal and parental roles; this abuse continued during his role as the group's manager.The Cowsills started playing around Newport and, in 1965, recorded their first single, "All I Really Wanna Be is Me," on the independent label JoDa Records, which was founded by Johnny Nash. Cowsill recalled that Nash wanted the band to be a "white rhythm and blues band" and sent them home with Jimmy Reed albums, which is how Cowsill learned to play harmonica. Although the single failed to chart, an appearance on the NBC Today Show to promote it was seen by Shelby Singleton, who offered them a contract with Mercury Records. In 1966, they released three more singles: "Most of All", "Party Girl", and "What's It Gonna Be Like". These songs failed to spark interest. The band was dropped by Mercury, but they were discovered by Artie Kornfeld and signed to MGM Records. Kornfeld persuaded the children's mother, Barbara, to contribute backing vocals behind Bill's lead on "The Rain, The Park & Other Things", a song written by Steve Duboff and Artie Kornfeld and released in 1967, as a single and on their debut album, The Cowsills. At this point, the brothers' younger sister Susan and brother Paul joined the band. Richard wanted to join the group; Bud would not allow it.
"The Rain, The Park & Other Things" sold over a million copies and reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Bill and Bob co-produced their second album, We Can Fly, which was released in December 1967. It spawned a second Top 40 hit with the title track. "We Can Fly" was written by Bob Cowsill, Bill Cowsill, Steve Duboff, and Artie Kornfeld, and would be successfully recorded by several acts, notably Al Hirt and Lawrence Welk. Bill produced the band's third album, Captain Sad And His Ship Of Fools, which was released in September 1968. From this album, "Indian Lake" became another Top 10 hit, but Cowsill felt that it was an inferior song, and he fired the producer, Wes Farrell. Farrell said he doubted that Cowsill could do better. When Carl Reiner asked the Cowsills to perform a musical skit on his 1969 TV special, which involved modeling wigs from Japan, Cowsill produced a version of the title track from the rock musical Hair. It peaked at No. 2 and sold 2.5 million copies.
The Cowsills were noted for their ability to sing multiple-part harmonies with remarkable accuracy and were one of the most popular musical acts in America. This led to Columbia Pictures division Screen Gems considering a sitcom based on their story and starring most of the members of the band; the deal was abandoned when the producers of the show wanted to replace Barbara in the cast. The show would later become The Partridge Family, with David Cassidy playing the lead singer and with his step-mother Shirley Jones as the mother in the show.
It was commonly thought that Cowsill's involvement with the family band came to an abrupt end in 1969 when Bud caught him smoking marijuana. In fact, Cowsill's dismissal occurred after he and his father got into a drunken brawl in the lounge of the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, when Bud insulted Bill's friends, particularly guitarist Waddy Wachtel. Police had to be called to break up the fight; Bill was dismissed, or quit, the next day. According to Bob Cowsill, Bill's dismissal was the beginning of the end of the Cowsills as a group, because no other sibling could assume his leadership role. After the band's break-up in 1972, it was discovered that most of their wealth had been lost through Bud Cowsill's financial mismanagement.
Tulsa, ''Nervous Breakthrough'', Cowsills Reunion, 1970-1975
Cowsill had no qualms about leaving the family band, later saying that he "hated" the life and the lack of musical control. From Las Vegas, he went directly to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he began playing in bars, "for ten bucks a night and all the whiskey you could drink." He was able to sit in with Harry Nilsson, J.J. Cale and Carl Wilson, co-founder of The Beach Boys. This led to Bill being considered as the replacement for Brian Wilson in The Beach Boys' live performances. Instead, Cowsill stayed in Tulsa and, in late 1970, released his solo album, Nervous Breakthrough.There is a persistent myth, sometimes encouraged by Cowsill that, at this time, Cowsill bought a bar in Austin, Texas and "drank it dry". In fact, Cowsill was one of several people who pitched in to purchase the old railway bar, McNeil Depot, in 1978, and then sold it to its current owner a few months later.
Cowsill had married Karen Locke in 1968; their son Travis was born in Tulsa in 1971. At this point, Cowsill reunited with The Cowsills and wrote and produced two singles, "You " and "Crystal Claps", two of six singles that the group released that year. By 1972, The Cowsills had dissolved.
Bill and Karen moved to Los Angeles, where Bill spent a few years playing and producing. In 1974, he joined Wachtel and his brothers Paul and Barry and they formed a group called Bridey Murphy. They released one single which Wachtel had co-written, "The Time Has Come", but nothing more came of it. By 1975, Cowsill's drug abuse problems were well entrenched. He was newly divorced and estranged from his family. He decided to move to Canada, choosing Yellowknife, Northwest Territories as his destination.
Yellowknife, Edmonton, Bryan Fustukian Band, 1975–1977
Cowsill played in the bars and hotels of Yellowknife for a short time; the city has just 20,000 people and a limited number of entertainment venues. He moved south to Edmonton, which is the capital of Alberta and a much larger and more cosmopolitan city. He began meeting other musicians and joined up with a group of them to form The Hair Trigger Cowboys. The band's drummer, Bruce Larochelle, would recall, "His body language reminded me of that of an outlaw or a gunfighter, roaming from town to town, always looking over his shoulder. But he just a kid though, just a kid. He was also pretty road-hardened, at the same time. Billy knew the situation, and he coached me. "Just watch me," he said, "And don't make any fast moves."" On that occasion, the band was in Provost, Alberta, opening for Bryan Fustukian, the well-known DJ who had become a successful country music artist. Cowsill accepted the invitation to join Fustukian's band and stayed on for about a year, as guitarist and co-lead singer. In 1977, he moved to Vancouver.Vancouver, Blue Northern, 1977–1983
Vancouver has always been a musical hub but, in the late ‘70s, it was bursting with new rock bands, new nightclubs and new blues venues. The two hubs for blues were The Anchor Hotel and The Yale Saloon. Cowsill rented an apartment in the former Hippie enclave of Kitsilano, and began sitting in with bands playing at The Yale's famous Sunday jam sessions. At one such session, he ran into Lee Stephens, the bass player from The Hair Trigger Cowboys. Stephens had just become part of the new country rock band Blue Northern; Cowsill began sitting in and then joined on vocals, guitar and percussion. He wrote and co-wrote some of their songs, produced their EP Blue, and co-produced their album Blue Northern. He also co-produced the 1983 album Restless Heart by the Winnipeg country singer Patti Mayo, which Blue Northern performed on. Blue Northern was a successful band—five of their songs made the national top-40 and, in 1982, they were nominated for a Canadian Country Music Award. But by then, Cowsill's addictions to drugs and alcohol had gotten the better of him. Blue Northern's members splintered off; their last performance was as part of a Christmas concert at Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom on December 23, 1982.Vancouver, Calgary, Billy Mitchell's Trainwreck, 1983–1986
By now, Cowsill had become friends with Lindsay Mitchell, singer of the group Prism which had broken up in 1982. Cowsill and Mitchell recruited bassist Elmer Spanier, guitarist Danny Casavant, and two of The Anchor's regular musicians, pianist Doc Fingers and drummer Chris Nordquist, to form the alt-country band Billy Mitchell's Trainwreck. The band played a steady stream of gigs in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, becoming popular in western Canada by performing what Cowsill described as his "Dead Guys Set"; country and pop songs by artists no longer living. At this point, Cowsill's manager was Larry Wanagas, president of Edmonton's Bumstead Records. Wanagas was also the manager of k.d. lang. Also at the time, Cowsill was mentoring the young blue guitarist Colin James, who was also playing with the band. On July 5, 1985, Wanagas had them open for lang at Calgary's Fairmont Palliser Hotel. Their concert was recorded and, in 2004, Cowsill released the performance as the album as Billy Cowsill – Live From The Crystal Ballroom Calgary, AB July, 1985.Mitchell soon returned to the re-united Prism and Cowsill's band became Billy Cowsill and the Heartbeats. By now, Cowsill had become a fixture in Alberta. He appeared more than once on Ian Tyson's TV show Sun Country, he played every Sunday night at the Wrangler Room, and the band was a regular fixture at the Calgary clubs Slack Alice and McGees, and at Edmonton's Sidetrack Cafe. He made other television appearances on Country West and The Don Harron show. But in January 1987, he returned to Vancouver, accepting scheduled regular bookings at the Fairview Pub and the Soft Rock Cafe.