The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (285 page)

As the toothsome young bassist with America’s most wholesome family act, Barry Cowsill appeared the perfect antidote for parents ‘concerned’ by the activities of bands such as The Grateful Dead. When ambitious father Bud Cowsill bought him his first instrument, Barry – one of six siblings – made his first tentative move towards stardom playing with his brothers in the earliest incarnation of The Cowsills when ten years old. Between 1967 and 1970, the group could do little wrong: two singles, ‘The Rain, the Park and Other Things’ (1967) and ‘Hair’ (1969) both raced to US number two, selling over a million apiece. The group had been touted as the next TV sensation after The Monkees, but the refusal of The Cowsills to play alongside actress Shirley Jones (as opposed to their own mother, Barbara, the erstwhile singer) brought their moment of fame to an abrupt halt. It’s reported that MGM label boss Mike Curb dropped the group for its association with ‘a musical that promoted drug use’.

Barry Cowsill’s later life could not have been in starker contrast to that of his childhood. Divorce alienating him from his children, he slipped into depression and (genuine) drug abuse. Although he’d recorded a solo album in 1998 and six years later had reunited for a one-off performance with his family (minus both parents, who had passed away some years before), the musician had clearly not shaken his problems, having been charged with making nuisance calls to a former partner. Cowsill had been due to re-enter rehab in September 2005 when his New Orleans home was among the thousands struck by Hurricane Katrina. While other noted musicians – Fats Domino and Alex Chilton among them – were found alive and well, Barry Cowsill’s drowned body was finally identified by dental records on 28 December 2005. The date of his death can thus only be approximated – as can that of metal singer Glenn Rambo, the other noted musician killed in the cataclysm.

See also
Barbara Cowsill (
January 1985); Bill Cowsill (eFebruary 2006)

Golden Oldies #29

R L Burnside

(Robert Lee Burnside - Harmontown, Mississippi, 23 November 1926)

Most of his life Delta-bluesman R L Burnside worked as a sharecropper and commercial fisherman, his music merely a weekend diversion for his many Mississippi friends; the expressive singer and guitarist only turned professional at an age when most are thinking of jacking it in. Burnside’s early adulthood was eventful, to say the least. In the fifties he relocated to Illinois where his search for work brought the guitarist into contact with other blues players. Following the murder of his father and two of his brothers, the grief-stricken Burnside returned home, only to be incarcerated for the shooting of a man he claimed was trying to commandeer his house.

Burnside’s distinctive slide and multirange vocal style was brought to wider attention in the late sixties, though it was not until 1991 that the ageing guitarist’s work was ‘discovered’ by Fat Possum Records, a Mississippi label specializing in artists of his generation. Among his new fans were younger blues lovers such as Jon Spencer (of Blues Explosion), who recorded the album
A Ass Pocket o’ Whiskey
(1996) in a log cabin with the veteran musician. His health was already in decline by the end of the decade, though, Burnside suffering a heart attack in 2001 that curtailed live performances. On 1 September 2005, in a Memphis hospital, the musician passed away from his heart condition, to be survived by a wife and several children - two of whom followed him into the blues game.

R L Burnside: A style of his own

OCTOBER

Tuesday 4

Mike Gibbins

(Swansea, 12 March 1949)

Badfinger

(Various acts)

Drummer Mike Gibbins discovered his talent for percussion during his time as a cadet with the sea scouts, his father encouraging the young musician by buying him a kit at thirteen. In the early sixties, Gibbins – like many around him – became fascinated with the beat music emanating from nearby Liverpool, joining a number of local bands, including rock ‘n’ roll covers act The Misfits, from whom he was poached by Ron Griffiths for his mod band, The Iveys. This band (minus the singer) became Badfinger, the biggest British pop music hope to emerge from the disbanding Beatles’ Apple stable. Indeed, all looked good as Badfinger cleaned up at home and in the States with a series of catchy pop singles, including ‘Come and Get It’ and ‘No Matter What’ (both 1970). Global success did not mean vast royalties, however, a cripplingly bad management deal eventually culminating in the suicides of both songwriters, Pete Ham (
April 1975)
and Tom Evans (
November 1983).
Mike Gibbins was understandably crushed by this double tragedy – Ham in particular had been a close friend – but pulled himself together to continue in music, playing on the hits of others, one of which was ‘It’s a Heartache’ (1977) by fellow Welsh artist Bonnie Tyler.

Gibbins was living in Florida at the time of his sudden death from natural causes during his sleep. Guitarist Joey Molland remains as the only surviving member from Badfinger’s early line-up.

Monday 10

Nick Hawkins

(Luton, Bedfordshire, 3 February 1965)

BAD II (Big Audio Dynamite)

(Dusk Til Dawn)

An enthusiastic guitarist from boyhood, Nick Hawkins realized a major ambition by teaming with his old Clash hero Mick Jones in the latter’s second band, Big Audio Dynamite. Hawkins joined the band in 1990, contributing to several albums, including the gold-selling
The Globe
(1991). By now, the group were past their UK heyday of the mid eighties, reforming as BAD II, and later recording simply as Big Audio. Hawkins remained in the line-up until 1997. The guitarist’s parents had been told that their son was diabetic at just nine years of age and that he was unlikely to survive beyond thirty: in the event, he lived ten more years, to be taken by a stroke. Hawkins, who had been working on an album with Dusk Til Dawn at the time of his death, was survived by his wife, R & B singer Jo Beng. The couple had lived in Las Vegas for some years.