Hello, Collins; I hope this reaches you. Since you put out a lengthy study of the Cowsills, perhaps you might be interested to hear from an ex-band member. That's right---though I'm not a family member, I was indeed a full-fledged member of the Cowsills at one time (and to my knowledge, I was the ONLY non-Cowsill-family-member to enjoy that privilege.)
In 1978, independent record producer Chuck Plotkin (who had earlier enjoyed some success producing the group Orleans) contacted me saying that he had a group of musicians, all members of a single family, who were preparing to record an album. They were needing to round out the group sound with a 5th player and Chuck thought I might be a good candidate to come in as lead guitarist. So I showed up at this tiny hole-in-the-wall practice studio in Burbank, Earshot Studios, to hear the band and to (as it turned out) jam with them on 2 or 3 songs and to give Chuck my OK. They sounded fresh and tuneful, and also they seemed to be simpatico types of people. Chuck and I went outside for a smoke, at which point he gave me some history of the group---never having mentioned their names. When he told me they had done extensive touring as very young kids under their parents' direction, I said, "Oh, yeah, sort of a "Cowsills" type thing, right?" Chuck gave me a strange look. "Well, yeah---uh, these ARE the Cowsills."
I joined the group as lead guitar. We practiced at Earshot for about 4 months before taking our show on the road---mainly to Split Pea Soup Andersen's Restaurant in Mammoth Lakes for our first gig, July 3, 79; and thence to many venues in LA (Madame Wong's, both "East" and "west", Club 88, the Starwood, The Whisky, the Golden Bear, etc.) Meanwhile, we were recorded under contract to Columbia Records, with Plotkin as producer, at Clover Studios in Hollywood. We recorded at least 20 songs, mostly originals by Bob, over the next year. At one point I switched to keyboards and recorded several tracks that way; then at the last I returned to being a guitar player for both studio and live performances.
Chuck went on to become [Bruce] Springsteen's producer (indeed, the recording and mega-box-office release of "The River" marks when he lost interest in the Cowsills and our career foundered.) We broke up in mid-1980. I still love the 'sills and have been in contact with them, especially Bob. I just found out from him that the fan-club site exists.