Brian Wilson Dies
The former American singer-songwriter and member of The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, has died at the age of 82. His family announced this through his official website.
Together with his brothers Dennis and Carl, and Mike Love and Al Jardine, they formed The Beach Boys in California in 1961. Initially, the band became known for surf hits like “Surfin’ Safari,” “Surfin’ USA,” and “I Get Around.” The band’s characteristic harmonies sung together were distinctive.
In the mid-1960s, Brian Wilson preferred to retreat to the studio to focus on developing the band’s music. The rest of the band went on tour without him, while he worked on the masterpiece “Pet Sounds” from 1966. Inspired by The Beatles’ album “Rubber Soul,” he felt challenged to release an album as a unified work. “Pet Sounds” was not immediately the success that was hoped for in the United States, though it did catch on in Europe. Nevertheless, the album grew to become one of the most influential albums of all time. It even inspired John Lennon and Paul McCartney to create The Beatles’ masterpiece “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Paul McCartney repeatedly called The Beach Boys’ classic “God Only Knows” the most beautiful pop song ever made.
Ironically, The Beatles’ 1967 album served as a crushing blow to Brian Wilson, who at that time wanted to surpass himself with the planned album “Smile.” He became overstressed and mentally confused. “Smile” would eventually see the light of day only over 38 years later as a solo album. In the period from 1967 to 1976, Brian Wilson mostly retreated to the background, while The Beach Boys continued to score hits like “Tears In The Morning” and the album “Holland” from 1973, which was partly recorded in Baambrugge in the Netherlands.
Wilson eventually returned to The Beach Boys in 1976, but the group never again achieved the same level of success as before. In the 1980s, he also came under the influence of therapist Eugene Landy, who was eventually removed from his position in the early 1990s.
In the last two decades, Wilson has still toured solo, performing a complete rendition of “Pet Sounds.” There was also a brief reunion of the surviving Beach Boys members in 2012, which he joined with the album “That’s Why God Made The Radio.”
After the death of his wife, Melinda Ledbetter, last year, Wilson led a withdrawn life. This was also because it had become known that he suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.
