Free Republic

William "Billy" Cowsill, lead singer of Sixties singing family the Cowsills, died on Friday at his home in Calgary at the age of fifty-eight. He had been in poor health, suffering from emphysema, Cushing's syndrome and osteoporosis. The Cowsills, the real-life family that inspired the hit TV series The Partridge Family, scored two Number Two hits, "The Rain, the Park and Other Things" and the title track to the hit rock musical Hair. The Newport, Rhode Island, band, which included brothers Billy (guitar), Barry (bass), Bob (guitar and organ) and John (drums), would later also feature brother Paul (keyboards) and...