NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys鈥� visionary and fragile leader who helped compose and arrange 鈥淕ood Vibrations,鈥� 鈥淐alifornia Girls鈥� and dozens of other summertime anthems and became one of the world鈥檚 most influential and admired musicians, has died at 82.
Wilson鈥檚 family posted news of his death to his website Wednesday. Further details weren鈥檛 immediately available. Since May 2024, Wilson had been under a court conservatorship to oversee his personal and medical affairs, with Wilson鈥檚 longtime representatives in charge.
The eldest and last surviving of three musical brothers 鈥� Brian played bass, Carl lead guitar and Dennis drums 鈥� he and his fellow Beach Boys rose from local act to national hitmakers to international ambassadors of the American dream. Wilson himself was celebrated for his beautiful music and pitied for his demons. He was one of rock鈥檚 great Romantics, a tortured soul who in his peak years embarked on an ever-steeper quest for aural perfection.
The Beach Boys rank among the most popular acts of the rock era, with more than 30 singles in the Top 40 and worldwide sales of more than 100 million. 1966's 鈥淧et Sounds鈥� was voted No. 2 in a 2003 Rolling Stone list of the best 500 albums, losing out, as Wilson did from the start, to the Beatles鈥� 鈥淪gt. Pepper鈥檚 Lonely Hearts Club Band.鈥� The Beach Boys, who also featured Wilson cousin Mike Love and family friend Al Jardine, were voted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
Fans ranged from Elton John and Bruce Springsteen to Katy Perry and Bob Dylan. 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 said the ballad 鈥淕od Only Knows鈥� often moved him to tears.
Their music was like an ongoing party, with Wilson as mastermind 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 for publicity. But out of the lifestyle that he observed and such musical influences as Chuck Berry and the Four Freshmen, he devised a magical and durable soundscape 鈥� easy melodies, bright harmonies, vignettes of beaches, cars and girls that resonated worldwide.
Decades after its first release, a Beach Boys song can still conjure up instant summer 鈥� the wake-up guitar riff that opens 鈥淪urfin鈥� USA鈥�; the melting harmonies 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, 鈥榬ound, get around, I get around.鈥� Beach Boys songs have cheered on generations from iPods and boom boxes, radios and 8-track players, and any device that could be placed on a beach towel.
The Beach Boys鈥� innocent appeal survived changing trends and times and the group鈥檚 increasingly troubled backstory 鈥� Brian鈥檚 many personal trials; allegations of their father's mismanagement and physical abuse; feuds and lawsuits; the alcoholism of Dennis Wilson, who drowned in 1983. Brian Wilson鈥檚 ambition took the Beach Boys into territory far beyond the simple pleasures of their early hits 鈥� transcendent, eccentric and destructive. They seemed to live out every fantasy, and every nightmare, of the California myth.
Brian Wilson was born June 20, 1942, two days after McCartney. His musical gifts were 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 was catching on locally and Dennis, 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 shirt. 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 and apparent tyrant who hired himself as the manager and holy terror. By mid-decade, Murry Wilson had been displaced and Brian was in charge.
Their breakthrough came in early 1963 with 鈥淪urfin鈥� USA,鈥� so closely modeled on Chuck Berry鈥檚 鈥淪weet Little Sixteen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 their many television appearances, they wore candy-striped shirts and grinned as they mimed their latest hit, with a hot rod or surfboard nearby.
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 often 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 President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. 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 peek at Brian鈥檚 crippling insecurities.
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, with whom he had 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 died in 2024.
Hillel Italie, The Associated Press
