the Beach Boys鈥� visionary and fragile leader whose genius for melody, arrangements and wide-eyed self-expression inspired 鈥淕ood Vibrations,鈥� 鈥淐alifornia Girls鈥� and other summertime anthems and made him one of the world鈥檚 most influential recording artists, has died at 82.
Wilson's family posted news of his death to his website and social media accounts Wednesday. Further details weren't immediately available. Since May 2024, to oversee his personal and medical affairs, with Wilson鈥檚 longtime representatives, publicist Jean Sievers and manager LeeAnn Hard, in charge.
The eldest and last surviving of three musical brothers 鈥� Brian played bass, Carl lead guitar and Dennis drums 鈥� rose in the 1960s from local California band to national hitmakers to international ambassadors of surf and sun. Wilson himself was celebrated for his gifts and pitied for his demons. He was one of rock鈥檚 great Romantics, a tormented man who in his peak years embarked on an ever-steeper path to aural perfection, the one true sound.
The Beach Boys rank among the most popular groups of the rock era, with more than 30 singles in the Top 40 and worldwide sales of more than 100 million. The 1966 album 鈥淧et Sounds鈥� was voted No. 2 in a 2003 Rolling Stone list of the best 500 albums, losing out, as Wilson had done before, to the Beatles鈥� 鈥淪gt. Pepper鈥檚 Lonely Hearts Club Band.鈥� The Beach Boys, who also featured and were voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
Wilson over songwriting credits, but peers otherwise adored him beyond envy, from Elton John and Bruce Springsteen to Smokey Robinson and Carole King. The Who鈥檚 drummer, Keith Moon, fantasized about joining the Beach Boys. Paul McCartney cited 鈥淧et Sounds鈥� as a direct inspiration on the Beatles and the ballad 鈥淕od Only Knows鈥� as among his favorite songs, often bringing him to tears.
Wilson moved and fascinated fans and musicians long after he stopped having hits. In his later years, Wilson and a devoted entourage of younger musicians performed 鈥淧et Sounds鈥� and his restored opus, 鈥淪mile,鈥� before worshipful crowds in concert halls. Meanwhile, The Go-Go鈥檚, Lindsey Buckingham, Animal Collective and Janelle Mon谩e were among a wide range of artists who emulated him, whether as a master of crafting pop music or as a pioneer of pulling it apart.
An endless summer
The Beach Boys鈥� music was like an ongoing party, with Wilson as host and wallflower. He was a tall, shy man, partially deaf (allegedly because of beatings by his father, Murry Wilson), with a sweet, crooked grin, and he rarely touched a surfboard unless a photographer was around. But out of the lifestyle that he observed and such musical influences as Chuck Berry and the Four Freshmen, he conjured a golden soundscape 鈥� sweet melodies, shining harmonies, vignettes of beaches, cars and girls 鈥� that resonated across time and climates.
Decades after its first release, a Beach Boys song 鈥� the wake-up guitar riff that opens 鈥淪urfin鈥� USA鈥�; the melting vocals of 鈥淒on鈥檛 Worry Baby鈥�; the chants of 鈥渇un, fun, fun鈥� or 鈥済ood, good, GOOD, good vibrations鈥�; the behind-the-wheel chorus 鈥溾�橰ound, 鈥檙ound, get around, I get around.鈥� Beach Boys songs have endured from turntables and transistor radios to boom boxes and iPhones, or any device that could lie on a beach towel or be placed upright in the sand.
The band鈥檚 innocent appeal survived the group鈥檚 increasingly troubled backstory, whether the feuds and lawsuits among band members or the alcoholism of Dennis Wilson, who drowned in 1983. Brian Wilson鈥檚 ambition raised the Beach Boys beyond the pleasures of their early hits and into a world transcendent, eccentric and destructive. They seemed to live out every fantasy, and many nightmares, of the California myth they helped create.
From the suburbs to the national stage
Brian Wilson was born June 20, 1942, His musical gifts were soon obvious, and as a boy he was playing piano and teaching his brothers to sing harmony. The Beach Boys started as a neighborhood act, rehearsing in Brian鈥檚 bedroom and in the garage of their house in suburban Hawthorne, California. Surf music, mostly instrumental in its early years, was catching on locally: Dennis Wilson, the group鈥檚 only real surfer, suggested they cash in. Brian and Love hastily wrote up their first single, 鈥淪urfin,鈥欌�� a minor hit released in 1961.
They wanted to call themselves the Pendletones, in honor of a popular flannel shirt they wore in early publicity photos. But when they first saw the pressings for 鈥淪urfin,鈥欌�� they discovered the record label had tagged them 鈥淭he Beach Boys.鈥� Other decisions were handled by their father, a musician of some frustration who hired himself as manager and holy terror. By mid-decade, Murry Wilson had been displaced and Brian, who had been running the band鈥檚 recording sessions almost from the start, was in charge, making the Beach Boys the rare group of the time to work without an outside producer.
Their breakthrough came in early 1963 with 鈥淪urfin鈥� USA,鈥� that Berry successfully sued to get a songwriting credit. It was their first Top 10 hit and a boast to the nation: 鈥淚f everybody had an ocean / across the USA / then everybody鈥檇 be surfin,鈥� / like Cali-for-nye-ay.鈥� From 1963-66, they were rarely off the charts, hitting No. 1 with 鈥淚 Get Around鈥� and 鈥淗elp Me, Rhonda鈥� and narrowly missing with 鈥淐alifornia Girls鈥� and 鈥淔un, Fun, Fun.鈥� For television appearances, they wore candy-striped shirts and grinned as they mimed their latest hit, with a hot rod or surfboard nearby.
Their music echoed private differences. Wilson often contrasted his own bright falsetto with Love鈥檚 nasal, deadpan tenor. The extroverted Love was out front on the fast songs, but when it was time for a slow one, Brian took over. 鈥淭he Warmth of the Sun鈥� was a song of despair and consolation that Wilson alleged 鈥� to some skepticism 鈥� he wrote the morning after 鈥淒on鈥檛 Worry Baby,鈥� a ballad equally intoxicating and heartbreaking, was a leading man鈥檚 confession of doubt and dependence, an early sign of Brian鈥檚 crippling anxieties.
Stress and exhaustion led to a breakdown in 1964 and his retirement from touring, his place soon filled by Bruce Johnston, who remained with the group for decades. Wilson was an admirer of productions and emulated him on Beach Boys tracks, adding sleigh bells to 鈥淒ance, Dance, Dance鈥� or arranging a mini-theme park of guitar, horns, percussion and organ as the overture to 鈥淐alifornia Girls.鈥�
By the mid-1960s, the Beach Boys were being held up as the country鈥檚 answer to the Beatles, a friendly game embraced by each group, transporting pop music to the level of 鈥渁rt鈥� and
The Beach Boys vs. The Beatles
opened with 鈥淩ubber Soul,鈥� released in late 1965 and their first studio album made without the distractions of movies or touring. It was immediately praised as a major advance, the lyrics far more personal and the music far more subtle and sophisticated than such earlier hits as 鈥淪he Loves You鈥� and 鈥淎 Hard Day鈥檚 Night.鈥� Wilson would recall getting high and listening to the record for the first time, promising himself he would not only keep up with the British band, but top them.
Wilson worked for months on what became 鈥淧et Sounds,鈥� and months on the single 鈥淕ood Vibrations.鈥� He hired an outside lyricist, Tony Asher, and used various studios, with dozens of musicians and instruments ranging from violins to bongos to the harpsichord. The air seemed to cool on some tracks and the mood turn reflective, autumnal. From 鈥淚 Know There鈥檚 an Answer鈥� to 鈥淵ou Still Believe in Me,鈥� many of the songs were ballads, reveries, brushstrokes of melody, culminating in the a psychedelic montage that at times sounded as if recorded in outer space.
The results were momentous, yet disappointing. 鈥淕ood Vibrations鈥� was the group鈥檚 first million-seller and 鈥淧et Sounds,鈥� which included the hits 鈥淪loop John B鈥� and 鈥淲ouldn鈥檛 It Be Nice,鈥� awed McCartney, John Lennon and Eric Clapton among others. Widely regarded as a new kind of rock LP, it was more suited to headphones than to the radio, a 鈥渃oncept鈥� album in which individual songs built to a unified experience, so elaborately crafted in the studio that 鈥淧et Sounds鈥� couldn鈥檛 be replicated live with the technology of the time. Wilson was likened not just to the Beatles, but to Mozart and George Gershwin, whose 鈥淩hapsody in Blue鈥� had inspired him since childhood.
But the album didn鈥檛 chart as highly as previous Beach Boys releases and was treated indifferently by the U.S. record label, Capitol. The Beatles, meanwhile, were absorbing lessons from the Beach Boys and teaching some in return. 鈥淩evolver鈥� and 鈥淪gt. Pepper,鈥� the Beatles鈥� next two albums, drew upon the Beach Boys鈥� vocal tapestries and melodic bass lines and even upon the animal sounds from the title track of 鈥淧et Sounds.鈥� The Beatles鈥� epic 鈥淎 Day in the Life鈥� reconfirmed the British band as kings of the pop world and 鈥淪gt. Pepper鈥� as the album to beat.
All eyes turned to Wilson and his intended masterpiece 鈥� a 鈥渢eenage symphony to God鈥� he called 鈥淪mile.鈥� It was a whimsical cycle of songs on nature and American folklore written with lyricist Van Dyke Parks. The production bordered on method acting; for a song about fire, Wilson wore a fire helmet in the studio. The other Beach Boys were confused, and strained to work with him. A shaken Wilson delayed 鈥淪mile,鈥� then canceled it.
Remnants, including the songs 鈥淗eroes and Villains鈥� and 鈥淲ind Chimes鈥� were re-recorded and issued in September 1967 on 鈥淪miley Smile,鈥� dismissed by Carl Wilson as a 鈥渂unt instead of a grand slam.鈥� The stripped down 鈥淲ild Honey,鈥� released three months later, became a critical favorite but didn鈥檛 restore the band鈥檚 reputation. The Beach Boys soon descended into an oldies act, out of touch with the radical 鈥�60s, and Wilson withdrew into seclusion.
Years of struggle, and late life validation
Addicted to drugs and psychologically helpless, sometimes idling in a sandbox he had built in his living room, Wilson didn鈥檛 fully produce another Beach Boys record for years. Their biggest hit of the 1970s was a greatest hits album, 鈥淓ndless Summer,鈥� that also helped reestablish them as popular concert performers.
Although well enough in the 21st century to miraculously finish 鈥淪mile鈥� and tour and record again, Wilson had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and baffled interviewers with brief and disjointed answers. Among the stranger episodes of Wilson鈥檚 life was a psychotherapist accused of holding a Svengali-like power over him. A 1991 lawsuit from Wilson鈥檚 family blocked Landy from Wilson鈥檚 personal and business affairs.
His first marriage, to singer Marilyn Rovell, ended in divorce and he became estranged from daughters Carnie and Wendy, who would help form the pop trio Wilson Phillips. His life stabilized in 1995 with his marriage to Melinda Ledbetter, who gave birth to two more daughters, Daria and Delanie. He also reconciled with Carnie and Wendy and they sang together on the 1997 album 鈥淭he Wilsons.鈥� (Melinda Ledbetter
In 1992, Brian Wilson eventually won a $10 million out-of-court settlement for lost songwriting royalties. But that victory and his 1991 autobiography, 鈥淲ouldn鈥檛 It Be Nice: My Own Story,鈥� set off other lawsuits that tore apart the musical family.
Carl Wilson and other relatives believed the book was essentially Landy鈥檚 version of Brian鈥檚 life and questioned whether Brian had even read it. Their mother, Audree Wilson, unsuccessfully sued publisher HarperCollins because the book said she passively watched as her husband beat Brian as a child. Love successfully sued Brian Wilson, saying he was unfairly deprived of royalties after contributing lyrics to dozens of songs. He would eventually gain ownership of the band鈥檚 name.
The Beach Boys still released an occasional hit single: 鈥淜okomo,鈥� made without Wilson, hit No. 1 in 1988. Wilson, meanwhile, released such solo albums as 鈥淏rian Wilson鈥� and 鈥淕ettin鈥� In Over My Head,鈥� with cameos by McCartney and Clapton among others. He also completed a pair of albums for the Walt Disney label 鈥� a collection of Gershwin songs and music from Disney movies. In 2012, surviving members of the Beach Boys reunited for a 50th anniversary album, which quickly hit the Top 10 before the group again
Wilson won just two competitive Grammys, for the solo instrumental 鈥淢rs. O鈥橪eary鈥檚 Cow鈥� and for 鈥淭he Smile Sessions鈥� box set. Otherwise, his honors ranged from a Grammy lifetime achievement prize to a tribute at the Kennedy Center to induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2018, he returned to his old high school in Hawthorne and witnessed the literal rewriting of his past: The principal erased an 鈥淔鈥� he had been given in music and awarded him an 鈥淎.鈥�
