A lone musician in his early 60's carries his guitar into a small
English pub in Woodland Hills, California. Amidst the clatter of the restaurant, and the disinterested
voices of patrons and bartenders alike, he begins his lonely set. In a voice-over, the musician
introduces himself. Once he was
part of a band, he tells us. They
were famous, and they had a handful of top hits by the time he was seventeen -
but today, most wouldn't recognize their name. So begins Family Band: The Cowsills Story, a documentary journey through the lives of a singing family whose songs became
standards of the era, but whose lives were nearly destroyed in the
process. The lone musician
is Bob Cowsill, and he guides us through his family's harrowing journey.
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| The Cowsills at the height of their fame / Pic from their website |
For a very few years in the late 1960's, The Cowsills were a musical and marketing sensation. The band, consisting of various numbers of brothers, a sister - and their mom, created enduring and even iconic hits ("The Rain, the Park and Other Things", "We Can Fly," "Hair," "Indian Like"), dominated teen fan magazines, appeared everywhere on television (including the Ed Sullivan Show, where they performed on the same stage on which their idols, the Beatles had played a few years before). They were the direct inspiration for the "Partridge Family" sitcom. Their image was so wholesome that they served as national spokespersons for the Milk Advisory Board appearing in numerous print and television ads. Then, as quickly as they rose to fame, they spiraled into oblivion.
