Susan Cowsill
Her voice, a crystalline fixture of 60s pop sunshine with The Cowsills, weathered personal storms to emerge as a soulful and resilient singer-songwriter.
Born 1959 (age 67)·American musician, singer and songwriter·Birthday: May 20·Baby Boomers
Biography
Susan Cowsill was a pop star before she was a teenager, providing the angelic, high-harmony heart to her family band The Cowsills, the real-life inspiration for The Partridge Family. The bubblegum era ended, but her voice remained, maturing into a instrument of remarkable emotional clarity and country-rock warmth. The 1980s found her touring with Dwight Twilley before she helped found the critically adored supergroup The Continental Drifters, a collective of roots musicians where her songwriting blossomed. Her life has been marked by profound loss, including the death of her brother Barry in Hurricane Katrina and a battle with homelessness, yet her music, both with reunited Cowsills and as a solo artist, channels that pain into work of haunting beauty and hard-won grace.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Susan was born in 1959, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Susan Was Born
The biggest hits of 1959
#1 Movie
Ben-Hur
Best Picture
Ben-Hur
#1 TV Show
Gunsmoke
Susan's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1959Born
Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $12,400Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"The Battle of New Orleans" — Johnny HortonBest Picture: Ben-Hur
1964Started school
Civil Rights Act signed; Beatles arrive in America
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $13,450Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"I Want to Hold Your Hand" — The BeatlesBest Picture: My Fair Lady
1972Became a teenager
Watergate break-in; last Apollo Moon mission
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $19,550Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" — Roberta FlackBest Picture: The Godfather
1975Could drive
Fall of Saigon ends the Vietnam War
Gas: $0.57/galHome: $27,600Min wage: $2.10/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Love Will Keep Us Together" — Captain & TennilleBest Picture: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1977Could vote
Star Wars premieres; Elvis dies
Gas: $0.62/galHome: $31,800Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Tonight's the Night" — Rod StewartBest Picture: Annie Hall
1980Turned 21
John Lennon shot and killed in New York
Gas: $1.19/galHome: $47,200Min wage: $3.10/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Call Me" — BlondieBest Picture: Ordinary People
1989Turned 30
Berlin Wall falls; Tiananmen Square protests
Gas: $1.00/galHome: $79,100Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: George H.W. Bush"Look Away" — ChicagoBest Picture: Driving Miss Daisy
1999Turned 40
Columbine shooting; Y2K panic builds
Gas: $1.17/galHome: $113,900Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Believe" — CherBest Picture: American Beauty
2009Turned 50
Michael Jackson dies; Bitcoin created
Gas: $2.35/galHome: $148,500Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Boom Boom Pow" — The Black Eyed PeasBest Picture: The Hurt Locker
2019Turned 60
First image of a black hole; Hong Kong protests
Gas: $2.60/galHome: $224,400Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Donald Trump"Old Town Road" — Lil Nas XBest Picture: Parasite
2026Age 67 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Achieved fame as the youngest member and distinctive high-harmony voice of the 1960s family band The Cowsills.
- Co-founded the influential alt-country collective The Continental Drifters in the early 1990s.
- Released the solo album 'Lighthouse' in 2005, which addressed the loss of her brother and home in Hurricane Katrina to critical acclaim.
- Performed and recorded consistently with various formations of The Cowsills into the 21st century.
- Her life and the band's story were documented in the film 'Family Band: The Cowsills Story'.
Did You Know?
The Cowsills' hit "The Rain, The Park & Other Things" is famously known as the "flower girl" song.
She was only eight years old when The Cowsills had their first major hit.
She performed with surviving Cowsills members on the 2011 album 'Rhythm of the World'.
She and her Cowsill siblings provided backing vocals on the 1990 album 'Home Alone' by John and Mary.
“I learned to sing harmony in a family where your note held up the whole song.”
