Beach Boy Brian Wilson, surf rock poet, dies at 82

Beach Boy Brian Wilson, surf rock poet, dies at 82

Brian Wilson, leader and co-founder of the rock band the Beach Boys, performs on the Pet Sounds: The Final Performances Tour at ACL Live on May 13, 2017 in Austin, Texas

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 a 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."

- Lost youth -

But Wilson was ill at ease on stage and did not like recording studios. In 1964 he had a panic attack on a plane to France, after which he stopped touring.

He was deaf in his right ear and his mouth sagged when he sang -- the result of the many beatings he received from his father.

"It was tough. My dad was quite the slave driver," Wilson told Rolling Stone magazine in 2018.

"He made us mow the lawn and when we were done, he'd say, 'Mow it again.'"

The Beach Boys' early songs spoke of simple joys and innocence.

But Wilson's writing became darker as he began to eulogize lost youth. He channeled the group towards the more psychedelic rock central to the hippie culture taking hold in California.

In 1966 he brought out "Good Vibrations," a song recorded in four different studios that consumed over 90 hours of tape and included multiple keys, textures, moods and instrumentations.

The single topped the charts and sold one million copies in the United States, but Wilson was at the brink.

In 1967, his mental health deteriorated, worn down by his enormous workload and his wild consumption of drugs.

He abandoned "Smile," planted his grand piano in a sandbox, and took vast quantities of LSD and acid.

Eventually diagnosed as schizophrenic, Wilson began hearing voices and thought the famed "Wall of Sound" producer Phil Spector was spying on him and stealing his work.

The group eventually parted ways.

- 'Gentlest revolutionary' -

The troubled artist had long stints of rehab and relapses as well as legal issues including a lengthy, eyebrow-raising relationship with a controlling psychotherapist who was eventually blocked by a court order from contact with Wilson.

The artist credits his marriage to former model Melinda Ledbetter as helping him to rebuild his life. He revived and finished "Smile," releasing it in 2004. 

His brother Dennis drowned in 1983, while Carl died of cancer in 1998.

Last year Wilson's family successfully pursued a legal conservatorship following the death of Melinda, with his longtime manager and publicist being put in charge of his affairs.

Wilson's seven children were consulted by the conservators regarding major health decisions as a stipulation of the agreement.

The musician's many accolades included a Kennedy Center Honor in 2007, when that committee dubbed him "rock and roll's gentlest revolutionary."

"There is real humanity in his body of work," they said, "vulnerable and sincere, authentic and unmistakably American."

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Originally published as Beach Boy Brian Wilson, surf rock poet, dies at 82