41 Facts About Bill Cowsill

Bill Cowsill was the lead singer and guitarist of The Cowsills, who had three top-10 singles in the late 1960s.

Bill Cowsill 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.

Bill 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 Bill Cowsill learned to play harmonica.

Bill Cowsill 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 Bill Cowsill felt that it was an inferior song, and he fired the producer, Wes Farrell.

Police had to be called to break up the fight; Bill Cowsill was dismissed, or quit, the next day.

Bill Cowsill had no qualms about leaving the family band, later saying that he "hated" the life and the lack of musical control.

Bill 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.

Bill Cowsill had married Karen Locke in 1968; their son Travis was born in Tulsa in 1971.

Bill Cowsill was newly divorced and estranged from his family.

Bill Cowsill decided to move to Canada, choosing Yellowknife, Northwest Territories as his destination.

Bill 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.

Bill Cowsill moved south to Edmonton, which is the capital of Alberta and a much larger and more cosmopolitan city.

Bill Cowsill began meeting other musicians and joined up with a group of them to form The Hair Trigger Cowboys.

Bill Cowsill accepted the invitation to join Fustukian's band and stayed on for about a year, as guitarist and co-lead singer.

Bill 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.

Stephens had just become part of the new country rock band Blue Northern; Bill Cowsill began sitting in and then joined on vocals, guitar and percussion.

Bill Cowsill wrote and co-wrote some of their songs, produced their EP Blue, and co-produced their album Blue Northern.

Bill Cowsill co-produced the 1983 album Restless Heart by the Winnipeg country singer Patti Mayo, which Blue Northern performed on.

The band played a steady stream of gigs in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, becoming popular in western Canada by performing what Bill Cowsill described as his "Dead Guys Set"; country and pop songs by artists no longer living.

At this point, Bill Cowsill's manager was Larry Wanagas, president of Edmonton's Bumstead Records.

Also at the time, Bill Cowsill was mentoring the young blue guitarist Colin James, who was playing with the band.

Bill Cowsill 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.

Bill Cowsill made other television appearances on Country West and The Don Harron show.

In 1990, Cowsill produced Year of the Rooster, the first album for the Vancouver rockabilly act, The Rattled Roosters.

Bill Cowsill was replaced by Barry Muir, late of Barney Bentall and The Payolas.

Bill Cowsill regarded his association with The Blue Shadows as his most positive experience as a musician, to that point in his career.

Bill Cowsill said that he considered the title track to the album to be the best song he had ever written.

The actual end of the band occurred during a layover in Ottawa, Ontario, when Bill Cowsill crashed their van into a laundromat.

Bill Cowsill continued for a brief period with another band, using The Blue Shadows name.

Bill Cowsill enrolled, as a full-time student, at Mount Royal College in Calgary, where he worked towards a degree in psychology, with the objective of becoming a counselor for troubled youth.

In 2002, Bill Cowsill co-produced the EP Dyin' to Go for Calgary country and blues singer, Ralph Boyd Johnson.

Bill Cowsill appeared as a guest vocalist on various recordings, such as an album by the roots rock group The Shackshakers, and on Gary Pig Gold's 2002 Gene Pitney tribute He's A Rebel.

Barbara Bill Cowsill died of emphysema in February 1985, at age 56.

Bill Cowsill needed a cane to walk and underwent hip replacement surgery and three back surgeries, one of which left him with a permanently collapsed lung.

Bill Cowsill's last recording was "The Days I'm With The Horses", recorded in Calgary on July 18,2005.

The song was written and performed by Stewart MacDougall, and produced by Bill Cowsill, who sang background vocals.

Bill Cowsill co-wrote, with Ralph Boyd Johnson and Suzanne Leacock, the title song to the album, on which he plays guitar.

Bill Cowsill died on February 18,2006, aged 58, at his Calgary home, survived by his two sons.

Bill Cowsill was cremated, and his ashes later scattered in Newport, Rhode Island.

On May 18,2006, a memorial service for and musical tribute to Bill Cowsill was held at Knox United Church in Calgary.