Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson dies at 82

Published June 11th, 2025 - 05:46 GMT
Brian Wilson
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

ALBAWABA - Beach Boys’ visionary Brian Wilson dies at 82, family confirms.

The Beach Boys' co-founder and lead songwriter, Brian Wilson, passed away, according to his family. The adored musical auteur, who helped pioneer the studio-as-instrument and influenced generations of performers in pop and beyond, was found to be suffering from a neurocognitive illness similar to dementia in early 2024, though an official cause of death was not made public. Wilson was eighty-two.

In a statement posted on Wilson's official Facebook page, his family said, "We are devastated to announce that our beloved father, Brian Wilson, has passed away." " At this moment, we are at a loss for words. Since our family is mourning, kindly respect our privacy during this time. We understand that the world is witnessing our anguish. Mercy and love.

Wilson was born in Inglewood, California, and joined his brothers Dennis and Carl, their cousin Mike Love, and high school buddy Al Jardine to start the band, which was then known as the Pendletones, while he was a teenager. Without the musicians' consent, Candix Records renamed the band the Beach Boys and published their debut single, "Surfin'." In order to release Surfin' Safari, the band signed with Capitol a year later. The following year, "Surfin' U.S.A." became the Beach Boys' first single to reach the U.S. Top 10. The band's three albums, Surfin' U.S.A., Surfer Girl, and Little Deuce Coupe, were released in 1963. Wilson had begun working as a producer for other performers by that point. He collaborated with Sharon Marie, Donna Loren, the Castellas, Jan and Dean, and others.

anxiety attack as a result of the band's hectic schedule. He concentrated on producing and began work on the seminal experimental pop record Pet Sounds in 1965. Wilson, who collaborated with renowned studio musicians the Wrecking Crew, was the driving force behind the Pet Sounds sessions. Pet Sounds was seen as a relative commercial and critical failure when it was first released. Because of its cultural, historical, and aesthetic value, it was added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2004.

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In 2016, Wilson told the Harvard Business Review, "I experimented because I wanted to develop musically." Especially not in the studio; I wasn't the kind to sit around and be content with a job well done. And I was always coming up with new ideas. Many dealt with the use of voices as instruments and instruments as voices. I would combine sounds to make new noises. Some concepts failed because, at the time, they were too challenging to implement. However, the majority did. I then went right on to the next thing.

After multiple delays, Wilson's follow-up album, Smile, which he referred to as a "teenage symphony to God," was shelved. Wilson's contribution to the band diminished when the album was canceled in 1967. He sought therapy in a psychiatric facility in 1968. Wilson briefly owned and ran the Radiant Radish, a health food store, in the years following the publication of Pet Sounds. In the 1970s, he battled alcohol and drug addiction while still performing with the band.

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Wilson found himself involved with the controversial psychotherapist Eugene Landy following a family intervention for his declining physical and mental health. Later, a biographical movie called Love & Mercy focused on their decades-long treatment. Following their 1977 album Love You, the Beach Boys experienced a brief comeback, but Wilson's health problems remained. Wilson released his first solo album in 1988 after Landy took him out of the band in 1982 for rigorous therapy and began to exert more and more control over his artistic and financial activities. Carl Wilson and other Wilson family members filed a lawsuit against Landy in 1992, which resulted in the revocation of his psychology license and the issuance of a restraining order.

Wilson eventually came back to Smile, revising the previously unreleased studio sessions with Darian Sahanaja to make it a live performance. In 2004, he released Brian Wilson: Presents Smile, which was well received by critics. In the 2000s, he kept up his solo releases. No Pier Pressure (2015), his most recent solo album, included contributions from Zooey Deschanel and Kacey Musgraves. In 2016, he published a memoir. The following year, he released a new track titled "Run James Run" and a previously unreleased song from the 1990s called "Some Sweet Day."

In 1988, Wilson was admitted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame along with the Beach Boys. Out of nine nominations, Wilson received two Grammy awards, while the Beach Boys received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001.

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