As a founding member of and lead guitarist for The Bangles, Vicki Peterson toured the world, picked up multiple platinum albums, and captured Billboard’s 1987 Song of the Year for “Walk Like an Egyptian.” Still, when she got a chance to sing with Susan Cowsill, the sister of her future husband, John Cowsill, she was in awe. John and Susan, along with their siblings, formed The Cowsills during their heady days as the musical family that inspired the popular 1970s TV show The Partridge Family.
The pair will be bringing their music to Ironwood Stage on April 17 and 19, and to the Bow Valley Music Club on April 18. The change of gears from touring separately with their own bands to playing with each other has gone smoothly, Cowsill said, despite months on the road. “You know, I don’t know how it happened, but we have the best relationship. There’s a lot of mutual respect, and there’s a lot of laughter, and there’s no grudges, there’s no jail issues. We’re just really fortunate and accept each other for who we are.”
The Cowsills appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show, promoting hits like “The Rain, the Park, & Other Things,” “Hair,” and “Indian Lake.” That last song hit the top 10 on Susan’s ninth birthday in 1969, making her the youngest person ever with a top ten hit.
Peterson recalls going to see them play at a California club where she first met the band in the late ‘70s, before The Bangles were founded and after the peak of The Cowsill’s fame. “I was a huge Cowsill fan growing up for whatever reason; the music, the family aspect of it really attracted me,” she said from a stop on the tour she is doing with husband John Cowsill during an interview punctuated by laughter between the two. “It seemed very magical to me. I just felt like these are people I need to know.” Prophetic words, as she married Cowsill in 2003 after singing with his sister Susan in The Psycho Sisters starting in the early ‘90s.
John Cowsill’s musical journey extends well beyond his hit-making years with his family band. He contributed percussion and backing vocals to Tommy Tutone’s 1981 smash “867-5309/Jenny,” toured with The Beach Boys as both keyboardist and then drummer from 2000 until 2023, and is currently a guest vocalist for garage darlings The Smithereens.
After decades of making music with other people, Cowsill and Peterson released their first album, Long After the Fire, in 2025. Like ashes from that heady bonfire of past hits, the ghosts of their musical pathways blow through the album, from Cowsill’s eerily doppelgänger vocals on late brother Billy Cowsill’s composition “Is Anybody Here?” (co-written with Jeffrey Hatcher for their Vancouver band, The Blue Shadows) to brother Barry Cowsill’s “When Hearts Collide,” which he says he can’t sing without crying, to Billy’s signature song, the timeless “Vagabond,” written in New York on John Lennon’s guitar.
The couple’s appearances in Calgary carry a sacred aura, owing to the city’s welcoming embrace of Billy Cowsill in the final decade of his life. He died there in 2006 after arriving in the late ‘90s, turning up on stages around town and mentoring younger musicians. He formed The Co-Dependents and their 2001 live recordings from the fabled Mecca Café, released by Calgary’s Indelible Records as a pair of albums, capture his trademark vocals and his impact on the younger members of the band. Those musicians — Tim Leacock, Steve Pineo, and Ross Watson — continue to mentor other musicians after Billy’s passing, thus impacting folks who never met him. As well, Billy’s son Del Cowsill, a musician in his own right, is coming from Ontario to open for the couple and play a few tunes with them.
John, the youngest, reflects on his oldest sibling, Bill’s role in his music. “Bill taught us all how to sing, basically. We would think that he really was our Brian Wilson in the band, I call it.” Later, referring to the impact of his father’s time in the navy while his mother tried to handle seven children, he said, “You know, Bill basically, along with my older brother, raised us.”
Despite being a Bangle with worldwide hits behind her when she started making music with Susan Cowsill, Peterson was wowed by Long After The Fire. “All the Cowsill boys share a quality in their voices. But I think that John sounds the most like Bill,” Peterson said. “It was still very fun and otherworldly. You had to sort of remove yourself every now and then and say, ‘Wow, what would 9-year-old Vicky be thinking right now?’ But on the other hand, it just felt completely natural and like this is exactly how it’s all supposed to be.”
While Billy said he had little fondness for some of The Cowsill’s hits, John still honours Billy’s songs. “I just wanted to record these songs, and I have picky taste. So, we’ll sing some of those songs because they’re my favourite songs. And [Billy and Barry] are not here anymore to sing them.”
While the album leans towards songs written by members of The Cowsills, the couple have been known to throw in some Bangles songs live. As Peterson says, “I’m very proud of the music that The Bangles made. Even ‘Walk Like an Egyptian,’ which is such a novelty song that I never in a million years would think to write.”
John sees these shows as a bit of a homecoming. “We’re just really excited to come to Calgary and play (these songs) forever,” he said. “Because we know this is Billyland, you know?”
John Cowsill and Vicki Peterson rock the Ironwood Stage on April 17 and 19 and at Bow Valley Folk Club on April 18.
