"The Rain, The Park and Other Things" by The Cowsills

Today would have been the 63rd birthday of Bill Cowsill, lead singer, guitarist, and founding member of the 1960s group The Cowsills, whose sweet harmonies charted three hits during that decade's folk music revival, of which this was arguably the biggest; The Rain, The Park and Other Things reached #2 in the US in 1967. The other two were 1968's Indian Lake, and 1969's Hair, the title track from the musical. The band was the inspiration for TV's classic show The Partridge Family; their sound is generally described as bubblegum pop.

Later a fixture of the Vancouver and Calgary music scenes - and key in the development of the alt-country movement founded in those two cities - throughout the 1980s and 90s (where he would mentor singer-songwriter Jann Arden) Bill Cowsill died in Calgary in February 2006 of emphysema, following a long battle with drug addiction. He was also afflicted with Cushing's syndrome and osteoporosis.
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