# Barry Cowsill found dead in New Orleans **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 6, 2006, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707 "2006-01-06T04:47:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/1 "2006-01-06T04:47:57Z")
I looked for a thread on this and didn’t see it. According to the [Cowsills’ web site](http://cowsill.com/cowsills/new.html), Barry, who had been missing since Katrina, has been found and identified. > [@](#): > > It is with a very heavy heart that I have to update the site to inform everyone that The Cowsill family has just learned that Barry’s body has been found. More information will be posted on the site as it becomes available. We invite you to express your thoughts and post your memories of Barry on our Memorial Book. A part of my childhood is gone. I had such a crush on him. RIP Barry. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/2 "2006-01-06T05:45:17Z")
They are still finding bodies? Ugh! Where is the Concert for New Orleans? (and Pakistan and Tsunami) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/3 "2006-01-06T05:49:24Z")
No disrespect intended to the dead or bereaved, but who the fuck is Barry Cowsill? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/4 "2006-01-06T06:20:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Shining, steaming, gleaming > Flaxen, waxen > Knotted, polka-dotted > Twisted, beaded, braided > Powdered, flowered, and confettied > Mangled, tangled, spangled [And spaghetti!](http://cowsill.com/cowsills/discography/music-hair.html) ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/5 "2006-01-06T06:26:06Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > No disrespect intended to the dead or bereaved, but who the fuck is Barry Cowsill? He was part of a very popular but mostly forgotten group in the late 1960’s, made up of 5 brothers and a sister, with the mom helping out, and the dad managing things. They were the inspiration for the TV show The Partridge Family. They had a big hit with the song “Hair” (which was silly) and another hit with “The Rain, The Park and Other Things” (which was beautiful, if a bit hippy-dippy). You might not recognize the name of that song but you’ve probably heard it at some point in your life (“I saw her sitting in the rain, raindrops falling on her. She didn’t seem to care, she sat there and smiled at me. And I knew I could make her happy. Flowers in her hair, flowers everywhere…I loved the flower girl, was she reality or just a dream to me…?”). I was a child of the 60’s and became a big fan of The Cowsills (yes, I was a teenybopper), and Barry was about my age, a little older, so he was the one I had a crush on. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/6 "2006-01-06T06:29:24Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > They are still finding bodies? I know! That’s what I thought. I’ll bet there are lots still out there, at the bottom of the river or tangled among the weeds in the swamps. Oy. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/7 "2006-01-06T06:50:53Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > No disrespect intended to the dead or bereaved, but who the fuck is Barry Cowsill? Just out of curiousity, why do people phrase things like this “who the fuck is…?” “who the hell is…?” when, if you don’t know someone, you can just ask “who is…?”? Using aggressive phrasing IS disprespectful, as if you’re saying “why the fuck should I care?” If you don’t know who the person was, you **don’t** have to care. No one’s asking you to. Lots of people around my age and older would remember The Cowsills. I wouldn’t have started a thread about it if it had been a member of some local group who played 5 dates in Lansing, Kansas then disbanded. People, please, if someone starts a thread about someone who died and you don’t know who they are, if you don’t care, don’t read the thread. If you’re somewhat interested as to why a thread was started, then just ask “who was?” Is it really too much to ask? It’s always bothered me. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/8 "2006-01-06T07:09:15Z")
I remember the Cowsills but never realised they were actually a family called Cowsill. I guess because of the cowslip I thought they were a band named after a flower. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/9 "2006-01-06T07:29:24Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > I remember the Cowsills They were played in Australia? That’s interesting. I assumed they wouldn’t be known outside America and maybe Canada. > [@don't ask](#): > > but never realised they were actually a family called Cowsill. I guess because of the cowslip I thought they were a band named after a flower. That was the days before People magazine and Access Hollywood (or the Australian versions). People heard the music on the radio and if they felt like learning more personal information, they’d have to dig a bit. Today everybody knows things about people they have no interest in. I still can’t believe that I know the name of Britney Spears’s husband, and I stay away from gossip arenas (except the SDMB). I wish I could unknow all the useless crap like that in my brain. I belonged to their fan club _embarrassed_. I never followed them past childhood, but reading their web site, I find it interesting that they reformed various times over the years and only did original music. They were never interested in being a nostalgia band. Good for them. Of course, a lot of people are only interested in hearing the hits, and radio wouldn’t play their original music, so they were never able to break out of their “known quantity” mode. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/10 "2006-01-06T09:05:18Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > They were played in Australia? That’s interesting. I assumed they wouldn’t be known outside America and maybe Canada. > > That was the days before People magazine and Access Hollywood (or the Australian versions). People heard the music on the radio and if they felt like learning more personal information, they’d have to dig a bit. Today everybody knows things about people they have no interest in. I still can’t believe that I know the name of Britney Spears’s husband, and I stay away from gossip arenas (except the SDMB). I wish I could unknow all the useless crap like that in my brain. > > I belonged to their fan club _embarrassed_. I never followed them past childhood, but reading their web site, I find it interesting that they reformed various times over the years and only did original music. They were never interested in being a nostalgia band. Good for them. Of course, a lot of people are only interested in hearing the hits, and radio wouldn’t play their original music, so they were never able to break out of their “known quantity” mode. In Australia we had all the American and UK music. I remeber the Cowsills quite well. _sigh_ And I agree with the earlier poster about the discourteous phrasing of "Who is… ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/11 "2006-01-06T09:22:58Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > No disrespect intended to the dead or bereaved, but who the fuck is Barry Cowsill? Nice language. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/12 "2006-01-06T13:34:27Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > I belonged to their fan club _embarrassed_. I never followed them past childhood, but reading their web site, I find it interesting that they reformed various times over the years and only did original music. Original music like “Hair”? Rado, Ragni, and McDermott would be surprised to hear that. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/13 "2006-01-06T13:43:58Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Original music like “Hair”? Rado, Ragni, and McDermott would be surprised to hear that. The Cowsills didn’t write their own material, but their single of “Hair” was the first one released by anybody, and the Broadway musical was still pretty much brand spanking new when the Cowsills recorded the song. Elvis didn’t write “Jailhouse Rock,” but it’s still fair to say he did the “original” version of it. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/14 "2006-01-06T14:00:18Z")
Didn’t they see post-Katrina footage of him alive? I wonder if that turned out to be somebody else who looked like him, or if he died after the storm. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/15 "2006-01-06T14:16:21Z")
Huh. I remember the Cowsills fro the 60s – not only Hair and The Rain, the Park etc., but also Indian Lake. I actualy saw them in concert at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City. I wouldn’t have been able to name them to save m life, and I had no idea they had a website. Sad to hear this, though. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/16 "2006-01-06T14:35:53Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Didn’t they see post-Katrina footage of him alive? I wonder if that turned out to be somebody else who looked like him, or if he died after the storm. They showed the snippet of what the family thought was footage of him on Entertainment Tonight/The Insider last night – it could have been him, it could have been anyone, it was just some homeless guy sitting on the street. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/17 "2006-01-06T15:10:43Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > The Cowsills didn’t write their own material, but their single of “Hair” was the first one released by anybody, and the Broadway musical was still pretty much brand spanking new when the Cowsills recorded the song. No. **Hair** opened on April 29, 1968 and the Original Cast Album with the song was released at that time. The Cowsills’s version wasn’t released until 1969 (it wasn’t even their first single released that year). Since **Hair** was a sensation from the start (it eventually was the #1 album), plenty of people had heard it before the Cowsills’s version came out. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/18 "2006-01-06T15:18:29Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Just out of curiousity, why do people phrase things like this “who the fuck is…?” “who the hell is…?” when, if you don’t know someone, you can just ask “who is…?”? Using aggressive phrasing IS disprespectful, as if you’re saying “why the fuck should I care?” If you don’t know who the person was, you **don’t** have to care. No one’s asking you to. > > Lots of people around my age and older would remember The Cowsills. I wouldn’t have started a thread about it if it had been a member of some local group who played 5 dates in Lansing, Kansas then disbanded. > > People, please, if someone starts a thread about someone who died and you don’t know who they are, if you don’t care, don’t read the thread. If you’re somewhat interested as to why a thread was started, then just ask “who was?” > > Is it really too much to ask? It’s always bothered me. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/19 "2006-01-06T15:23:37Z")
I was wondering who he was too, so I looked him up last night at the link in the OP. I recognise _Hair_ and _Love, American Style_, but none of their other ‘all-time hits’. That song about flowers sounded familiar, but I was thinking of _Flowers On The Wall_. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707/20 "2006-01-06T15:30:30Z")
Who was the little sister that sang on Please Mr. Mailman? I had the pre-teen hots for her. Gah. Did I just admit that? That I had the Cowsills Live album? Well, yeah I was the first one on my block with the White Album too, so there. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barry-cowsill-found-dead-in-new-orleans/338707.md?page=2)