Missing Katrina singer found dead

Barry Cowsill's family had appealed for help in tracing him

The body of a 1960s US pop star who disappeared in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina has been found four months after he went missing.

Barry Cowsill, 51, of family singing group The Cowsills, was identified by dental records after his body was discovered on a wharf in the city.

Cowsill, whose group inspired TV series The Partridge Family, had been missing since 1 September.

A coroner inquiry is expected to find the cause of death was storm-related.

Cowsill, who lived on and off in New Orleans, had not been contacted since he left phone messages for his sister two days after the hurricane struck the city.

His brother Richard Cowsill said the authorities had told the family that the musician had 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," he said.

Their mother Barbara Cowsill died in 1985.

Pop success

The Cowsills released a series of US hit singles between 1967 and 1970, including The Rain, The Park and Other Things and Hair.

David Cassidy was among the stars of The Partridge Family

Barry Cowsill played bass in the group, alongside his three brothers - Bill on guitar, Bob on guitar and organ and John on drums.

Mother Barbara and sister Susan were later members of the group, which split acrimoniously in the 1970s.

Some members were estranged for several years afterwards.

"It wasn't just the end of a business, it was the end of a family," Bob Cowsill told an interviewer in 1990.

As well as his siblings, Barry Cowsill is survived by two daughters and a son.