David Cassidy on the Web
David Cassidy's Return to TV Has Us Recalling Other Singing Families: An Old Partridge Resurfaces, but What About the Cowsills and the DeFrancos?
July 18, 2009
By Robert Philpot
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
www.californiachronicle.com
Jul. 18--We're not sure what makes us feel older -- that former Partridge Family heartthrob David Cassidy is pushing 60, or that his new ABC Family show, Ruby & the Rockits, is his first regular TV-series gig since 1978's David Cassidy -- Man Undercover, in which he played not David Cassidy but Dan Shay, a young undercover cop.
In Ruby, Cassidy plays David Gallagher, a former 1980s pop musician who upends the quiet life of his brother, Patrick, a former band mate, when David shows up unexpectedly with his teenage daughter, Ruby (Spy Kids' Alexa Vega) in tow. David wants to continue performing and wants Patrick's help in raising Ruby.
It's a family affair: Patrick is played by Patrick Cassidy, David's half-brother, and the series is produced by David's other half-brother Shaun, who was a 1970s pop star in his own right. All that nepotism got us wondering what was up with the rest of the Partridge Family and other musical family groups of the late '60s/early '70s, real and fictional.
The Cowsills
The family: Brothers Bill, Bob, Paul, Barry and John Cowsill; younger sister Susan; and mother Barbara. Credited as the inspiration for The Partridge Family.
Biggest hits: Their first, 1967's The Rain, the Park & Other Things, and their last, 1969's Hair, both peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Family style: Imagine the Summer of Love if it were dominated by clean-cut kids instead of drug-taking hippies.
Where they are now: Bob Cowsill lives in Southern California with his family and still writes and performs. He also works in the medical industry helping to train emergency departments on software that he helped develop. Paul Cowsill lives on an Oregon farm with his family. John Cowsill has been married to Vicki Peterson, the lead guitarist for the Bangles, since October 2003 and lives with her in Southern California. Susan Cowsill is good friends with Peterson, and both were members of the New Orleans-based band Continental Drifters, which also included Susan's current husband, Russ Broussard. Susan also recorded a 2005 solo album, Just Believe It, that's available at www.susancowsill.com (where you can hear some of her music) and at Amazon.com. Some of the siblings still perform as the Cowsills.
Barbara Cowsill died of emphysema in January 1985. (Patriarch Bud, who managed the band but didn't perform, died of leukemia in September 1992.) Barry Cowsill, who lived in New Orleans, went missing for four months after Hurricane Katrina until his body was discovered and identified Dec. 28, 2005 (he would have been 51 on Sept. 14 of that year). Less than two months later, William (Bill) Cowsill died of emphysema at age 58 in February 2006.
The Partridge Family
The family: The fictional Partridges featured mom Shirley Partridge (Shirley Jones), son Keith (David Cassidy, who is Jones' stepson), teenage daughter Laurie (Susan Dey), bratty little brother Danny (Danny Bonaduce), and kid siblings Christopher (Jeremy Gelbwaks for the first season, Brian Forster thereafter), and Tracy (Suzanne Crough).
Biggest hit: I Think I Love You, which spent three weeks at No. 1 in the fall of 1970, shortly after the TV show premiered. Many people think it's the only Partridge hit, but the group had seven songs in the Top 40.
Family style: Loving but bickering, with a laugh track. Only Jones and Cassidy actually sang on their records.
Where they are now: Shirley Jones continues to act and recently appeared in an episode of A&E's The Cleaner. Her husband, Marty Ingels, recently made news by urging his 75-year-old wife to pose for Playboy. According to various news reports, Playboy king Hugh Hefner declined the photos last week, saying that they didn't show enough skin.
David Cassidy continues to perform and act, although he does both more sparingly now. He also writes and produces, and breeds and races thoroughbred horses. Susan Dey starred in the drama L.A. Law and the sitcom Love and War but has not acted much since leaving Love and War in 1993. She has served as a board member of the Rape Treatment Center at UCLA.
Danny Bonaduce went on to become a popular DJ and then a reality-TV fixture, appearing most notably in Breaking Bonaduce, a VH1 series in which he attempted -- not always successfully -- to conquer the demons and bad behavior that eventually led to the breakup of his marriage with second wife Gretchen. Jeremy Gelbwaks left the show when his father's career took the family out of Los Angeles. According to the Internet Movie Database, Partridge is Gelbwaks' only acting credit, and he went on to a career in the computer industry. Brian Forster became a professional race-car driver; he has also done some community-theater acting in California. Suzanne Crough's last screen acting credit was in 1980; the most recent info we can find says she went on to manage bookstores and shoe stores in Nevada.
The Jackson 5
The family: Stop us if you've heard this: Michael, Jermaine (later replaced by Randy), Marlon, Tito and Jackie. Plus bonus siblings Janet, Rebbie and LaToya.
Biggest hits: Of their four No. 1 songs, I Want You Back and I'll Be There stayed on the chart the longest. We won't even get into Michael's solo stuff.
Family style: Light funk and sensitive ballads transformed from bubblegum to classic by a great lead singer.
Where they are now: Somewhere -- in a bomb shelter in a hole under a bridge inside a tunnel deep in a cave underneath a monastery -- there's someone who doesn't know what happened to Michael. Jermaine Jackson performed a moving version of Smile, Michael's favorite song, at his brother's memorial service. Marlon Jackson made news early this year for his involvement in the Badagry Historical Resort Development Project, a controversial Nigeria-based resort that would include a museum about slavery.
Tito Jackson continues to write, produce and perform. Jackie Jackson recently founded Futurist Entertainment and Jesco Records, a Futurist division designed to launch new stars. The most reliable thing we can tell you about Randy Jackson is that he's not to be confused with the American Idol judge.
Janet Jackson, of course, has had huge success as a solo artist, although things have cooled somewhat since her infamous 2004 Super Bowl halftime show and wardrobe malfunction. She continues to record and act. Rebbie Jackson had a solo hit, Centipede, in 1984 and performed in Las Vegas as recently as this decade. LaToya Jackson has recorded several albums but has not had a Top 40 hit single; in 2007, she formed Ja-Tail Enterprises, an entertainment/fashion company (Ja-Tail stands for "Just Another Timely Adventure in Life").
The Osmonds
The family: Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay and Donny. Plus bonus siblings Marie and Jimmy.
Biggest hit: The biggest hit as a group was 1971's One Bad Apple, which spent five weeks at No. 1.
Family style: So wholesome it could make milk blush but good enough to transcend the bubblegum label.
Where they are now:Donny Osmond is on Twitter. His Twitter bio says, "I'm a singer. It's what I do. It's what I love." He has done it with his brothers, with his sister, with the casts of musicals and by himself. Oh, and he has hosted or co-hosted several TV shows. Twice he co-hosted with Marie Osmond (one variety show, one talk show), whose best-known recent gigs were stints as a contestant on Dancing With the Stars and as a spokeswoman for Nutrisystem. She continues to perform (and do many other things) without her siblings, and is also on Twitter.
Alan Osmond founded the Osmond Network ( Osmond.net), a Web site that not only provides updates on all things Osmond but also support to other families. He and his wife, Suzanne, have eight sons who perform as the Osmonds -- Second Generation. Wayne, Jay and Jimmy Osmond currently perform and tour as the Osmond Brothers. Merrill Osmond performs solo and sometimes joins the Osmond Brothers.
The DeFranco Family
The family: Tony, Merlina, Nino, Marisa and Benny DeFranco.
Biggest hit: Heartbeat -- It's a Lovebeat, which peaked at No. 3 in September 1973. If you remember it, we apologize for the earworm we just caused.
Family style: The Canadian Osmonds, although after their initial success they were teamed with actual Osmonds producer Mike Curb, with whom they clashed so much that it effectively ended their chart career.
Where they are now: Tony DeFranco lives in Southern California, where he sells real estate -- much of it in the $1 million-plus range -- for Sotheby's International Realty, according to his Web site, DeFranco.com. It's much tougher to find info on the rest, but according to the Canadian Pop Encyclopedia, "The band retired in 1979 and the family relocated to Southern California. The ladies settled into married life; Benny did production work at Disney studios; Nino owned a music store in the San Fernando Valley; Tony and his wife ran a production company and were handling the careers of several international artists." But obviously, Tony's life has changed -- how about an update on your sibs, there, bub?
Sources:Star-Telegram archives; Cowsill.com; AllMusic.com; www.continentaldrifters.com.; The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable Shows 1946-Present by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh; The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (7th edition) by Joel Whitburn; Internet Movie Database ( www.imdb.com); KYW/1060 AM ( www.kyw1060.com); cmongethappy.com; London Telegraph site (telegraph.co.uk); ( www.titojackson.com); Jackson Source ( www.jackson-source.com); www.jatail.com; Osmond.net; the Osmond Brothers ( www.osmondbros.com); official Merrill Osmond site ( merrilldavisosmond.com/); marieosmond.com; Donny.com; www.defranco.com
