Family and friends of Barry Cowsill, who have been looking for him since September 2004, publically confirmed on Thursday that a body found on a New Orleans wharf in December has indeed been identified as Barry Cowsill.

Barry Cowsill's body was recovered December 28 from the Chartres Street Wharf, said Dr. Louis Cataldie, the Baton Rouge coroner and head of the state hurricane morgue in Carville. Cataldie said that Barry Cowsill was identified January 3 from dental records.

Cataldie said he had not determined the cause of death but believed it to be related to Hurricane Katrina, which struck the city on August 29. The family web site said Barry, who had lived in New Orleans on and off for several years, left messages on his sister's telephone answering machine on September 1 but had not been heard from since.

Barry's brother Richard was quoted as saying in a telephone interview on Thursday, "They tell us he'd been dead for quite some time, We love him and we're going to miss him, but he's in a much better place, in my mother's arms."

Richard also said that no memorial service is being planned and that his brother would be cremated. "He always said when I leave this place, you better party. And that's what we're planning to do," he said.

The Cowsills began as a band that was formed in 1965 by four brothers (Barry, Bill, Bob, and John Cowsill) in Newport, Rhode Island. They were later joined by their sister Susan, another brother Paul and their mother, Barbara. The Cowsills developed their musicianship and harmonized vocals in performances at school dances and churches in their hometown.

Although the musical family was originally inspired by The Beatles, the family became the inspiration for the TV series The Partridge Family and were approached at one point to play the roles of the children on the television series, turning down the opportunity when they learned actress Shirley Jones would play the role of their mother.

In 1971 the Cowsills stopped playing together as a band, but have went on to produce albums and appear at occasional performances. Today Susan is the leader of her own band, The Susan Cowsill Band.

Barbara Cowsill died in 1985.

Barry Cowsill is survived by his father, siblings, two daughters and a son.

--Tina Bacon