Music Wilson: Remember Beach Boys’ icon’s life and career

The singer Brian Wilson82, died on Wednesday (11). Considered one of the greatest musicians of the twentieth and iconic century member of US rock band Beach Boyshis death was published through the artist’s social networks. The cause of death was not revealed, but it was diagnosed with a cognitive neuro disorder in 2024.

Below is the life and career of Brian Wilson:

The legacy of Wilson Includes dozens of successful singles with Beach Boysincluding three who reached first place on the charts (“I GET AROUND”, “Help Me, Rhonda” and “Good Vibrations”). In the 1960s, the Beach Boys not only were the most successful American band – they also competed for global supremacy with Beatles. And in albums like PET SOUTHSthe techniques of orchestral and luxurious production of Wilson They dramatically expanded the rock ‘n’ roll sound palette and showed how the recording studio could be an instrument by itself.

Brian Wilsonborn June 20, 1942, grew in Hawthorne, California, a modest city next to Los Angeles airport. Brian It was the oldest of three brothers; His younger brothers were Dennis and Carl.

Their father, Murry, was an aspiring composer and a tyrant. “Although he saw himself as a loving father who guided his children with a firm hand, he abused us psychologically and physically, creating wounds that never healed.”he wrote Wilson in its 1991 autobiography.

Wilson He grew up playing sports and obsessed with music, teaching his brothers to harmonize with him. Music was his livelihood and his comfort, according to him: “From an early age, I learned that when I turned off the world, I could tune into mysterious music, given by God. It was my gift, and allowed me to interpret and understand emotions that I could not articulate.”

In 1961, Brian, Dennis and Carl formed a band with the cousin Mike Love and the friend Al Jardinemanaged by Murry Wilson. Brian played bass, assumed many of the main vocals and wrote the songs. Signed by Capitol Records and baptized as The Beach Boysthey started launching successes like convertible thunderbirds coming out of an assembly line: “Surfin ‘USA” (With borrowed melody from “Sweet Little Sixteen” From Chuck Berry), “Surfer Girl”, “Be True To Your School” and “Fun, fun, fun”.

These compositions of Brian Wilson They sounded like absurdly captivating jingles about the Californian teenage lifestyle – surfing boards, cafeterias, school games – but behind the fun, there was a real feeling of melancholy. Sometimes this appeared in the lyrics – as in the solitary “In My Room” – And sometimes it was expressed without words, with the moving harmonies of Beach Boys.

Wilson became increasingly ambitious in his compositions and experienced new sounds – such as heavy surf guitar and vocals in falsetto de “I Get Around”. But he gave in to tours pressure, having a nervous collapse during a trip to Europe in 1964. He decided that while the others Beach Boys They traveled around the world, he would stay at home perfecting new material in the studio: when they returned to California, they would record their parts. The results included beautiful singles as “California Girls” and the immortal album PET SOUTHS1966.

The album, which regularly appears at the top of the best lists of all time ( Rolling Stone classified it as the 2nd best on the list of the 500 largest albums of all time), was inspired by the innovative work of Beatles in RUBBER SOUL; In return, it inspired the Fab Four new levels of experimentation in Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Paul McCartney Often cited PET SOUTHS as a masterpiece, especially highlighting the innovative use of the bass, and stated that the painful “God Only Knows” It’s your favorite music of all time. The album was orchestrated with instruments such as blackheads, bicycle bells and dog barks. The apex was “WOULDN’T IT BE NICE”with lyrics that longed for an adult life and love.

The others Beach Boysespecially Mike Lovethey were not impressed withPET SOUTHSand Wilson He considered launching him like a solo album; as album of Beach BoysIt was only moderate in the US, although its influence was huge and it was recognized as an instant classic in the UK.

Wilson followed with the highest single from Beach Boys, “Good Vibrations” – Three and a half minutes of emotion with Theremine and multiple vocal layers, recorded over six months in several studios, costing $ 16,000 – the most expensive single in history so far.

Wilson returned to the studio with plans to overcome: an album called Smilethat he claimed to be a “Adolescent Symphony for God”. Working with the lyricist Van Dyke Parkshe began to set up an elaborate collection of musical suites, with the intention of changing the course of popular music.

But the sessions collapsed, harmed by the indifference of others Beach Boysfor the consumption of marijuana and LSD by Wilsonand for its growing mental instability. During the recording of “Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow”a piece of the suite “Elements” About the fire, Wilson He distributed plastic firefighter helmets to the orchestra and even lit a fire in the studio to inspire them. When he learned that a nearby building had taken fire, he thought he had caused the fire with his music, freaked out and locked the ribbons in a safe.

Wilson It spent most of the next decade in its Bel Air mansion, which included a recording studio and a litter box in the living room (he put the piano in it to feel the sand under his feet while playing). “He was such a lonely man, so abused and defamed, ostracized”he said Van Dyke Parks the Rolling Stone in 2004. “It was an outrage what he suffered.”

You Beach Boys continued without Brian Wilson; Even with the fall in album sales, they were still a popular attraction on classics tours. In the following decades, Wilson He would periodically return to the band and sometimes even tours with them, despite lawsuits between members on copyright and money.

In 1988, Wilson He returned shyly to public life and began to release solo albums, starting with the worshiped Brian Wilsonwhich credited as a co -producer his longtime therapist, Dr. Eugene Landy (which later had his license revoked). Commercially, it was surpassed by the daughters of Wilson, Carnie and Wendywhich formed two thirds of the vocal trio Wilson Phillipswhich sold ten million copies of his debut album in 1990. Wilson presented with the daughters in I just wasn’t made for these Times1995. In the same year, he launched Orange Crate Arta collaboration with Van Dyke Parks.

The legend of Smile It has only increased over the decades since it was abandoned; It was considered the great lost album of rock and even inspired a romance on time travel (Glimpsesby Lewis Shiner), in which the protagonist convinces Wilson to complete the disc.

Although songs like “Heroes and Villains” and “Surf’s Up” have appeared fragmented in albums from Beach Boysit was assumed that it was impossible to reassemble the pieces of the masterpiece of Wilson. In 2004, however, against all probabilities, Wilson completed the album; in a five -star criticism, the Rolling Stone described it as “Beautiful and funny, grandly silly”.

Wilson He had achieved something that once seemed impossible: a happy ending. “I will tell you something I learned”confided the Rolling Stone in 2004. “It takes effort to be happy.”

In February 2024, a few weeks after the death of the second wife of Brian and your longtime businesswoman, Melindathe family of Brian He revealed that the singer was suffering from dementia, and a curatella was asked to ensure his continuous care.

“This decision has been made to ensure that there are no drastic changes in the house, and that Brian and the children living with him remain careful at home where they are,” said the family statement Wilson at the time. “Brian can enjoy his family and friends, continue working on current projects and participate in the activities he wants.”

Also read: The 8 indispensable songs for Brian Wilson, from the Beach Boys