The legendary representative and co-founder Brian Wilson died on the 11th of June, aged eighty-two, and his family has not disclosed the reason for death and where it happened, although he had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorders, and dementia diagnosed in February 2024.
Brian Wilson was a member of one of the best bands ever – the Beach Boys. With the band they managed to sell more than one hundred million records globally with their bestselling song – ‘Good Vibrations’ with three million sales till this day.
His blending of instruments and different chords will take a long time to forget if they even are. The chords and harmonies are sunk in into his life as well as his reclusive time in his bed and with his beside drugs.
Early Life
Brian Douglas Wilson was born on 20th June 1942 in the city of Inglewood, California. His father pushed him to the best of his abilities; and by the age of eight he could play the piano and was a regular in the local town church choir.
Often, Wilson would practise with his younger brothers to sing the already complex harmonies which are known in most of their songs.
At the age of 19 Wilson discovered his musical talent that defined the rest of his years. He had been given a tape recorder, and he soon learnt how to layer music which is called ‘overdubbing;’ this would become a well-known part of the Beach Boys’ music.
Teenage wonders
With their parents away, Wilson and his younger brothers invited his cousin Mike Love and close friend Al Jardine to rehearse a song that Mark and him wrote.
$250 left by his parents was supposed to be used for food but was used to hire some musical equipment. From that, their first song Surfin’ was created and the Beach boys were born.
The year after, with Surfin’ proven to be a big hit, the group signed a deal with Capital Records.
Songs like Surfin’ Safari, Surfin’ USA, Fun Fun Fun, Help Me Rhonda and their first US number one single: I Get Around, celebrated the aspirations of surfing and first romances.
Many of these hits were written by Wilson, who showed a more mature sense on tracks compared to the other members of the band.
Golden Years
Before every concert, he recalled “I have stage fright every single concert I’ve ever done,” later he remarked “I have at least four or five minutes of it.”
The first intimation of this was in 1964 when he had a mental breakdown during a flight. Just twenty-two, he decided to stop touring with the band to concentrate on writing and producing, for the band.
The album, the Beatles’ Rubber Soul inspired Pet Sounds, this features God Only Knows, would not it Be Nice and Sloop John B, was an enormous success and many listeners loved it.
Return
After his many years away, his brothers hired a doctor named Eugene Landy, a controversial psychiatric therapist. Moving into his house, Landy gave him a 24-hour drug watch, overseen by a group of people.
Initially, the results were encouraging, with Wilson losing much of his excess weight and making a half recovery from his drugs.
But Eugene set himself up as Wilson’s business partner and acting as a producer on his albums, Landy was found guilty of breaching the doctor-patient relationship and left Wilson to his own devices.
During the 1990’s, light started to show. Wilson married for the second time – returned to the studio with, not much success and reconciled with his daughters Carnie and Wendy.
The best of all was his discovery of a young Californian band, The Wondermints, that would bring Wilson new recognition, after they inspired him to revisit both Pet Sounds and Smile.
After battling his devils for a lot of years, he mad e a great comeback with the remastering of his own Beach Boy Classics, and the revival of the long lost, Smile Album.
Later life
Wilson gave the premier performance of the remade Smile album at the Royal Festival Hall in London, 2004 and went on to perform all around the world.
The biggest difference was the joy on Wilson’s face as he performed in various places in all the world. The man who stopped touring at 22 has finally conquered his fears of live performances.
A film was made about him, Love & Mercy, starring John Cusack and Paul Dano playing him at different stag3es of his life, was released to critical acclaim in the same year.
He continued to tour into his late seventy’s but suffered a blow in 2024 when his second wife, Melinda, died aged seventy-seven.
Throughout his career, the Beach Boys has reverberated along the music spectrum and their songs are still known today.
Comments
Teachers across school have all said their favourite songs:
Mr Powell: God Only Knows & Good Vibrations
Mr Winter: California Girls
Mr Leutfield: God Only Knows, California Girls, Good Vibration
Mrs Olhausen: Good Vibrations
Mrs Elliot: California Girls
Mrs Wyatt: Calfornia Girls
Mr Tenison: All Of Them!
Reported by Louis D and Thor K