Beach Boys' Brian Wilson Dead at 82

Brian Wilson, visionary of the Beach Boys, has died at the age of 82.

His family shared the news on Instagram, writing, "We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away. We are at a loss for words right now. Please respect our privacy at this time as our family is grieving. We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world."

In February 2024, shortly after the death of his wife and manager, Melinda, it was announced that Wilson was suffering from dementia and that his family members had applied for conservatorship for his safety.

Born June 20, 1942, in Los Angeles, Wilson began displaying signs of innate musical intelligence from an early age and began teaching himself piano at 12. He studied music through high school, and although talented, earned unimpressive grades. In 1960, he enrolled at the local El Camino Junior College to study both music and psychology, but withdrew in frustration after a year and a half.

It was around this time that Wilson started crafting songs, absorbing the sounds of the era. "I first got inspiration from artists on the radio: Chuck Berry, Rosemary Clooney, the Four Freshmen," he recalled to Harvard Business Review in 2016. "That’s how I learned to sing and play and write music."

Along with his two younger brothers, Dennis and Carl, plus their cousin Mike Love and classmate Al Jardine, Wilson formed a band that was initially called the Pendletones. A song penned by Wilson and Love called "Surfin'" did well in Los Angeles, and at the behest of their label at the time, Candix Records, they changed their name to the Beach Boys.

And that was just the beginning. In 1962, the band was signed to Capitol Records, releasing their debut album, Surfin' Safari, during the same year. Successful album after successful album arrived after that, with Wilson not only writing songs with his bandmates but also effectively producing their albums.

"They believed in me, my process, and what I was trying to achieve," Wilson said in 2016. "They didn’t know how to produce a record, so I took charge. I was a real perfectionist, and the guys respected that. But we always mixed in some humor to lighten the load."

What would later be deemed Wilson's masterpiece was released in 1966. Pet Sounds. In retrospect, Wilson would describe his purpose in making the album: "I wanted to get the vocal harmonies I love on tape," he told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in 2016. But in doing so, he ended up creating one of the most acclaimed LPs of all time, progressively combining elements of pop music with studio innovation and a precise sense of arrangement that astounded both average listeners and plenty of fellow songwriters.

"It was Pet Sounds that blew me out of the water," Paul McCartney said in 1997. "I've just bought my kids each a copy of it for their education in life — I figure no one is educated musically 'til they’ve heard that album."

The Beach Boys continued, but Wilson's emotional bandwidth and mental health began to deteriorate. In 1968, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, and while he was discharged later the same year, his involvement in the making of Beach Boys albums was sometimes sporadic. In June of 1973, following the death of his father, Wilson hit something of a breaking point, isolating himself at home where he struggled with substance abuse and generally self-destructive behavior. (Since 1965, he battled schizoaffective disorder.)

In 1975, Wilson became a patient of psychologist Dr. Eugene Landy, but he was discharged within a year because of Landy's exorbitant fees. After another period of drug abuse and general decline, Wilson again entered Landy's program. Over the next several years, Landy positioned himself as Wilson's executive producer, business manager, cowriter and business adviser, even serving as co-writer and co-producer of Wilson's first two solo albums, Brian Wilson (1988) and Sweet Insanity (1990). During this time, Wilson was largely cut off from his friends and family, leading to allegations that Landy was controlling him against his will.

In 1989, Landy's professional license was revoked by the State of California, staying on as Wilson's business and creative partner. It wasn't until 1992 that a restraining order was issued banning Landy from speaking to the musician. It was around this time that Wilson reconnected with a woman he'd dated named Melinda Ledbetter — the pair were married in 1995.

"Melinda was more than my wife," Wilson wrote in a social media post following her passing in February 2024. "She was my savior. She gave me the emotional security I needed to have a career. She encouraged me to make the music that was closest to my heart. She was my anchor."

With the help of Melinda, Wilson's career underwent a resurgence. Between 1995 and 2021, he released nearly a dozen solo albums and resumed touring regularly. In 2012, he officially reunited with the Beach Boys, who promptly went about touring and recording together.

"I try to be something that I can," Wilson said in a 1988 interview. "I really don’t take it too seriously – who looks up to me or not – y'know, because I'm afraid that if I did, I might just take a tumble to the bottom of the barrel. I'm real scared about being left in the dust, and I don't want somebody to leave me in the dust to figure the whole thing out."

In other words, Wilson said, "I just do my thing and be myself."