New York, United States—Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys co-founder who masterminded the group’s wild popularity and soundtracked the California dream, has died, his family announced Wednesday. He was 82.
The statement on Instagram did not give a cause. Wilson was placed under a legal conservatorship last year due to a “major neurocognitive disorder.”
“We are at a loss for words right now,” said his family. “We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world.”
The pop visionary crafted hits whose success rivaled The Beatles throughout the 1960s, a seemingly inexhaustible string of feel-good tracks including “Surfin’ USA,” “I Get Around,” “Fun, Fun, Fun” and “Surfer Girl” that made the Beach Boys into America’s biggest selling band.
Wilson didn’t surf, but his prodigious pen and genius ear allowed him to fashion the boundary-pushing soundscape of beachside paradise.
His lush productions were revered among his peers, with even Bob Dylan once telling Newsweek: “That ear—I mean, Jesus, he’s got to will that to the Smithsonian!”
Dylan also paid tribute to Wilson on Wednesday, posting on X “about all the years I’ve been listening to him and admiring his genius. Rest in peace dear Brian.”
After five years of extraordinary songwriting, in which he produced 200 odes to sun, surfing and suntanned girls, Wilson sank into a deep, drug-fueled depression for decades.
He would emerge 35 years later to complete the Beach Boys’ unfinished album, “Smile”—widely regarded as his masterpiece.
‘Surfin’ USA’
John Lennon said he considered “Pet Sounds” (1966) to be one of the best albums of all time, while Paul McCartney said Wilson was a “genius”—who reduced him to tears with one song from the album, “God Only Knows,” which Wilson wrote in 45 minutes.
Its melancholic depths hinted at Wilson’s own painful secret.
Born on June 20, 1942 in a Los Angeles suburb, Wilson found music as a haven of safety and joy after an upbringing in which he suffered abuse from his domineering father, who would go on to manage the group.
Music was his protection, and The Beach Boys was a family affair: he formed the band with his two brothers Dennis and Carl, his cousin Mike Love and neighbor Al Jardine.
Wilson did all the songwriting, arranging and sang and played bass guitar; his bandmates just had to sing in harmony.
Their first song “Surfin,” in 1961, was a loose prototype for the unique sound that would become their signature, a fusion of the rock styles of Chuck Berry and Little Richard with the preppy vocal harmonies of “The Four Freshmen.”
By late 1962, there was hardly a teen who did not know them thanks to the eternal ode to youthful nonchalance, “Surfin’ USA.”
