God only knows if Brian Wilson was ever as happy as the feel-good summer songs he penned made others feel. What’s known is Wilson, who passed away June 11 at age 82, is now singing heavenly harmonies in that great gig in the sky with his younger brothers Dennis and Carl, who predeceased him.
At a loss for words, Wilson’s surviving family members announced the death of The Beach Boys’ visionary via his website and on social media. No cause was given, but the artist’s declining health in recent years was well-documented. Sadly, in the twilight of his life and career, Wilson suffered from dementia and a diminishing capacity to manage his own affairs.
Over a career spanning 60 years, the musical genius leaves behind a legacy of hits — both with the Beach Boys — and via his solo records. But, the two-time GRAMMY-winner and Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, is remembered for much more than the chart-topping songs he co-wrote like "Help Me, Rhonda," "I Get Around," and "Good Vibrations."
Beyond his commercial success with The Beach Boys — more than 100 million records sold, four No.1 Billboard hits, and more than 33 platinum and gold records (the greatest hits album Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of the Beach Boys sold three million copies alone) — and his solo work (winning a pair of GRAMMY Awards) there are few genres the virtuoso did not have an influence on over the past six decades.
"The Recording Academy mourns the loss of Brian Wilson, a true musical genius whose work with The Beach Boys and beyond not only shaped the ‘California sound’ we know and love, but also modern music," said Harvey Mason jr., CEO, Recording Academy and MusiCares.
"A two-time GRAMMY winner, 2001 Lifetime Achievement Award honoree and 2005 MusiCares Person of the Year, Brian's legacy is immeasurable. His innovative songwriting and timeless music throughout his decades-long career has inspired many generations. Brian’s spirit and sound will live on forever. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and the music community."
To honor the life of Brian Wilson, CBS will re-air "A GRAMMY Salute To The Beach Boys" on Sunday, June 15 at 9 p.m. PT. The special originally aired in 2023; clips from the special can be viewed here.
California Dreamin’
The Beach Boys started in Hawthorne, California in 1961, when Brian and younger brothers Carl and Dennis, recruited cousin Mike Love and childhood friend Al Jardine. The group’s debut, Surfin’ Safari, was released in 1962. The title cut peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was a harbinger — and a hint—of what was to come from these young lads.
The following year, the Beach Boys released not just one, but three albums: Surfin’ U.S.A., Surfer Girl, and Little Deuce Coupe and from 1962 to 1966, the group were everywhere, churning out hit after hit with 13 singles in the Top 10.
Like Pablo Picasso or Vincent Van Gogh, masters who created hues and artistic techniques never witnessed before they splashed paint on canvases, Wilson did the same with sound. At the heart a listener — with heightened auditory perceptions — that’s what Wilson was. His lifelong fascination with recording, overdubbing and experimenting with sound started from the moment he received a reel-to-reel tape recorder for his 16th birthday. That curiosity never stopped.
Listen: 50 Essential Songs By The Beach Boys Ahead Of "A GRAMMY Salute" To America's Band
Wilson combined complex and innovative musical arrangements, along with lush orchestration to songs that defined an era and created a sound unlike any previously heard in pop music. The Renaissance man was a sonic genius long before the term was coined. A modern Mozart, who combined classical music sensibilities with mainstream pop, Wilson was a musical hero to his peers. As Bob Dylan is oft-quoted of Wilson’s talents: " Jesus, that ear. He should donate it to the Smithsonian."
The artist’s studio wizardry and ingenuity influenced his contemporaries in the 1960s — everyone from Neil Young and Paul Simon to Heart’s Ann Wilson — as well as younger artists like Weezer, Fleet Foxes, and Vampire Weekend. His timeless creations are sure to impact the hitmakers of tomorrow.
Wilson’s accolades include induction into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Beach Boys in 1988; the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2000. And, in 2007, induction into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame and the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors. Five Beach Boys songs have been inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame.
Following news of the singer/songwriter’s passing, fellow artists, celebrities, and everyday people, wrote tributes on social media, with odes to Wilson pouring in non-stop throughout the day. "Anyone with a musical bone in their body must be grateful for Brian Wilson’s genius magical touch," wrote Mick Fleetwood. The Monkees’ Mickey Dolenz added: "His melodies shaped generations, & his soul resonated in every note."
Paul McCartney, who was famously impressed by Wilson's talents, remembered the singer on Instagram: "Brian had that mysterious sense of musical genius that made his songs so achingly special. The notes he heard in his head and passed to us were simple and brilliant at the same time. I loved him, and was privileged to be around his bright shining light for a little while. How we will continue without Brian Wilson, ‘God Only Knows’."
Writer-director Cameron Crowe chimed in "Those transcendent words and happy/sad melodies will be there for all-time, waiting for each new generation." And, composer and touring keyboardist Robin Hatch, who has toured with Porno For Pyros, F*cked Up and Our Lady Peace, said: "Those songs are weird but they don’t even seem weird. In a million years AI could never churn out a ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice.’"
Actor John Stamos, who has performed with the Beach Boys, similarly offered tribute to Wilson in an Instagram post. "Brian Wilson didn’t just soundtrack my life…he filled it with color, with wonder, with some of the most unforgettable, emotional, joyful moments I’ve ever known," Stamos wrote. "He heard things no one else could hear. He felt things deeper than most of us ever will. And somehow, he turned all of that into music that wrapped itself around the world and made us all feel less alone."
Nothing To "Smile" About
Wilson was a once-in-a-generation talent. An artiste, the musician forever sought new and innovative ways to sculpt and refine songs, using mixing and overdubbing techniques to layer harmonies and experimenting with the latest technology to create orchestral arrangements in pop that popped when the needle dropped. These memorable melodies remain woven into the fabric of modern pop culture and make first-time listeners shake their heads in wonder.
Born June 20, 1942 in Inglewood, California to Murry and Audree Wilson, Brian spent his formative years in the southwest L.A. city of Hawthorne. Music, for Brian, was an escape from an abusive father, who tormented him physically and mentally. Music provided a vehicle to channel these feelings; his lyrics and openness about his depression, addictions, and mental health struggles helped generations of teenagers acknowledge it’s okay to not be okay, making them feel not so alone.
Learn more: 10 Memorable Oddities By The Beach Boys: Songs About Root Beer, Raising Babies & Ecological Collapse
While Wilson and the Beach Boys sang often (especially in the early days) of an idyllic endless summer of beaches, cars, and good vibrations to throngs of adoring fans in public at sold-out arenas and stadiums, his private life was far from sun-splashed. Listen to the GRAMMY Hall of Fame-inducted "In My Room," a tender melancholic ballad written from the point of view of a teen who finds refuge in their bedroom. Or, "God Only Knows" — an orchestral opus written, arranged and produced when Wilson was just 23 — which Paul McCartney considers the "greatest song ever written."
Creating His Magnum Opus
Good music makes you feel, but by the late 1960s Wilson did not feel like performing and making public appearances anymore. Anxiety, combined with an ever-growing dependency on drugs, caused a panic attack on a flight to Houston for a Beach Boys’ gig that led him to quit touring. In the ensuing years and decades, Wilson increasingly focused on songwriting and production work.
The songwriter’s public struggles with mental health resonated on a different level than the Beach Boys’ sunnier summer songs upon release and decades later. Steven Page, former member of the Barenaked Ladies, was touched by the artist’s journey and wrote the song "Brian Wilson" when he was just a 19-year-old college student living in Toronto and struggling with his own mental health issues. Wilson’s openness led Page to pen what is still one of the Barenaked Ladies fan favorites that appeared on the band’s debut studio album Gordon in 1992.
The Beach Boys’ harmonies are the bar that groups ever since have attempted to emulate. Though many of their earliest songs idealized the California lifestyle and rode the wave of the surf craze, Brian Wilson’s 1966 studio masterpiece Pet Sounds is often cited as one of the first concept records for its cohesiveness from start to finish — following a narrative arc similar to a three-act play with a distinct beginning, middle, climax and denouement. In a 2010 interview, Wilson ambiguously described this conceptual idea, saying, "If you take the Pet Sounds album as a collection of art pieces, each designed to stand alone, yet which belong together, you’ll see what I was aiming at."
While the album only peaked at No. 10 upon release largely because listeners familiar with the radio-friendly pop hits did not know how to react to this batch of complex, meticulously curated songs. Wilson’s brainchild and magnum opus — a bildungsroman put to music — Pet Sounds is perennially ranked one of the greatest rock albums ever made.
In 1988, Wilson, along with his Beach Boys’ mates, were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; that same year, the singer/songwriter released his debut solo record, simply titled Brian Wilson. In the 2000s, the artist returned to his group’s catalogue and re-recorded Smile, the unfinished and abandoned Beach Boys’ album meant as the follow-up to Pet Sounds, never released due to creative differences among band members. At the 2005 awards, the record garnered Wilson his first GRAMMY for the instrumental song, "Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow."
Outside of music, Wilson continued to shine a light on mental health issues. In 2015, he partnered with mental health advocacy group Change Direction, a coalition dedicated to changing America's views about mental health, mental illness, and wellness.
From the smiles to the sadness to the endless summer songs, Wilson’s genius lives on. As Bruce Springsteen said of his friend and mentor in the documentary: Brian Wilson: The Long and Promised Land: "[He] just took you out of where you were and took you to another place."