Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson, one of the most acclaimed and influential songwriters of the 20th century, has died aged 82.
The God Only Knows hitmaker shot to fame as the frontman of the Beach Boys, for which he served as the principal songwriter as well as the co-lead vocalist.
Last year, weeks after the death of his longtime wife Melinda, it emerged that he had been diagnosed with a neurocognitive disorder similar to dementia.
His children announced Wilson’s death on the singer’s official Instagram page this Wednesday, alongside what appeared to be a recent photo.
‘We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away. We are at a loss for words right now,’ they wrote.
‘Please respect our privacy at this time as our family is grieving. We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world. Love & Mercy.’
Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson, one of the most acclaimed and influential songwriters of the 20th century, has died aged 82; pictured 2020 in Miami
Wilson formed the Beach Boys in 1961 with his brothers Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love and their friend Al Jardine
Wilson formed the Beach Boys in 1961 with his brothers Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love and their friend Al Jardine.
The original name of the band was the Pendletones, and they exploded onto the scene with their 1961 song Surfin’, written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love.
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Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, 81, 'suffering from dementia' as family seeks to place him under a conservatorship… weeks after the singer's wife Melinda died
Over the course of the 1960s the group became one of the most beloved in America, releasing albums like Surfin’ Safari, Surfin’ U.S.A. and Surfer Girl.
Their 1966 hit God Only Knows was branded ‘the greatest song ever written’ by Beatles legend Paul McCartney.
Along with their pioneering musical style, the band also conjured up an intoxicating image of a carefree California lifestyle of sunshine, palm trees, blue jeans and sea air.
However Wilson’s involvement with the Beach Boys shifted dramatically when he suffered a nervous breakdown in 1964, followed by two more in the next couple of years.
He promptly withdrew from touring but retained his backstage control of the band as a writer and producer, masterminding their 1966 masterpiece Pet Sounds and providing lead vocals on many of the tracks.
Pet Sounds struggled commercially at first, but ultimately earned a reputation as one of the most acclaimed pop or rock albums ever created.
Paul McCartney has cited Pet Sounds as a particularly profound influence on him, one that spurred him to write more ambitiously for the Beatles, leading to their own seminal album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Wilson plunged into heavy drug use in the 1960s, which combined with his psychological issues contributed to his increasing withdrawal from public life; pictured 1968
The last time Wilson was seen in public was last April, when he emerged looking frail in a wheelchair to attend a Los Angeles Lakers game
The original Beach Boys are pictured in Los Angeles in 1962, with Brian Wilson in the center
Wilson (second from left) is pictured with the other Beach Boys in 1964
‘First of all, it was Brian’s writing,’ said McCartney in 1990. ‘I love the album so much. I’ve just bought my kids each a copy of it for their education in life – I figure no one is educated musically ’til they’ve heard that album. I was into the writing and the songs.’
Wilson meanwhile plunged into heavy drug use during the 1960s, including LSD, and the combination of his mounting substance problem and psychological issues contributed to his increasing retreat from public life.
One of his symptoms was paranoid delusions, and he continued hearing voices in his head during the last decades of his life.
On the other hand, the psychedelics also served as creative fuel, with Wilson reportedly composing the music for one of the Beach Boys’ most enduring singles, the 1966 release Good Vibrations, while tripping on LSD.
Pet Sounds, with its groundbreaking songs like God Only Knows and I Know There’s An Answer, was also influenced by his experience with mind-altering substances.
By the mid-1970s, his drug use had expanded to include heroin and he became a recluse as his first marriage to singer Marilyn Rovell gradually crumbled.
With the help of therapy, however, he returned to the spotlight in 1976, touring with the Beach Boys again as the band’s slogan trumpeted: ‘Brian’s Back!’
He slipped in and out of overeating and drugs, with repeated stints out of the public eye punctuated by triumphant comebacks.
Melinda, his second and final wife, married Wilson in 1995, and he credited her as his ‘savior’ in his devastated statement on her death last year; the couple are pictured in 1995
His children announced Wilson’s death on the singer’s official Instagram page this Wednesday, along with what appeared to be a recent photo
By the 1990s, he was locked in feuds with a variety of his old collaborators over a string of issues including unpaid royalties and alleged defamation of them in his memoirs, which also prompted a lawsuit from his own mother.
He had begun embarking on a solo career in the 1980s, and continued through the 1990s amid his widening estrangement from the other Beach Boys.
However, by 2006, he and Al Jardine toured jointly for the 40th anniversary of Pet Sounds and by 2012, the latest iteration of the Beach Boys – now including Wilson again – was back together for a 50th anniversary reunion tour.
That year, the Beach Boys also released their final studio album, That’s Why God Made the Radio, which Wilson produced to galloping commercial success.
Melinda, his second and final wife, married Wilson in 1995, and he credited her as his ‘savior’ in his devastated statement on her death last year.
The couple gave a joint interview a decade ago in which Wilson confessed that he was still plagued by auditory hallucinations.
‘I have voices in my head,’ he explained to Salon alongside his wife in 2015. ‘Mostly it’s derogatory. Some of it’s cheerful. Most of it isn’t.’
Last February, shortly after Melinda’s death, Wilson’s family filed to obtain a conservatorship of him, announcing his diagnosis with a dementia-like condition.
They said he often made ‘spontaneous irrelevant or incoherent utterances,’ had a ‘very short attention span and while unintentionally disruptive, is frequently unable to maintain decorum appropriate to the situation,’ in documents obtained by The Blast.
The Beach Boys are pictured in 1964
The Beach Boys are pictured in 1964
News of his death prompted an outpouring of grief from his fans, including Sean Ono Lennon, the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones added his voice to the choir, tweeting: ‘Oh no Brian Wilson and Sly Stone in one week ~ my world is in mourning so sad xx’
Melinda, the family argued, had been attending to Wilson’s ‘daily living needs’ and her absence had left him ‘unable to properly provide for his own personal needs for physical health, food, clothing, or shelter.’
The last time Wilson was seen in public was April 2024, when he emerged looking frail in a wheelchair to attend a Los Angeles Lakers game.
News of his death prompted an outpouring of grief from his fans, including Sean Ono Lennon, the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
‘Anyone who really knows me knows how heart broken I am about Brian Wilson passing. Not many people influenced me as much as he did,’ wrote Lennon.
‘I feel very lucky that I was able to meet him and spend some time with him. He was always very kind and generous. He was our American Mozart. A one of a kind genius from another world,’ he added.
Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones added his voice to the choir, tweeting: ‘Oh no Brian Wilson and Sly Stone in one week ~ my world is in mourning so sad xx.’
Wilson’s survivors include his daughters Carnie, 57, and Wendy, 55, whom he had with his first wife Marilyn, as well as the five children he adopted with Melinda, who are called Dakota Rose, Daria Rose, Delanie Rose, Dylan and Dash.