Brian Wilson, one of the most influential and innovative songwriters in the history of American popular music, and a co-founder of the legendary Beach Boys, has died. He was 82.
His family announced his passing on social media on Wednesday, writing that, “We are at a loss for words right now. Please respect our privacy at this time as our family grieving [sic]. We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world. Love & Mercy”
No cause of death was given, but many news outlets reported that he’d been battling a form of dementia and was placed under a conservatorship earlier this year.
Wilson, who co-founded the Beach Boys with his brothers Carl and Denis Wilson, cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine in 1961, wrote or co-wrote some of the band’s most famous tunes, including their first big hit Surfin’ U.S.A., Little Deuce Coupe, Fun, Fun, Fun, I Get Around, California Girls, Wouldn’t It Be Nice, God Only Knows and many more. He was also the driving musical force behind the band’s albums, overseeing the transition from mostly surf and summer songs to more storytelling albums like All Summer Long and, eventually, the groundbreaking Pet Sounds (1966).
The latter proved an American answer to the British Invasion led by The Beatles, incorporating innovative soundscapes and harmonies that ultimately inspired the Fab Four to answer with their own groundbreaking disc the following year, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Paul McCartney has noted that Pet Sounds influenced Sgt. Pepper, while legendary Beatles producer George Martin is quoted in The Rock Canon: Canonical Values in the Reception of Rock Albums, by Carys Wyn Jones, as saying that, “Without Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper wouldn’t have happened. It was a spur. The way Brian handled all the elements, the vocal work and the unusual sounds he got.”
Speaking with Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood in 2012, McCartney recalled the rivalry between the Beatles and the Beach Boys in the 1960s. “Brian Wilson sort of proved himself to be like a really amazing composer. And I was into chords and harmonies and stuff at that time, and we ended up [in] kind of like a rivalry. [The Beatles would] put a song out and Brian [would] hear it, and then he’d do one, which is nice. [It was] like me and John [Lennon]. You know, you’d kind of try and top each other all the time.”
In the same interview McCartney referred to the song God Only Knows from the Pet Sounds album as “a great song – melody, harmonies, words, you know. I love it … It’s my favorite Beach Boys song.”
Sgt. Pepper and Pet Sounds at one time ranked first and second respectively in Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” list. The list has evolved over the years and in the most recent version of the list, from 2023, Pet Sounds remains in second place (behind Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On) while Sgt. Pepper comes in at number 24.
Pet Sounds proved the peak of Wilson’s creative output, as his struggles with mental illness and hallucinations came to the fore in the mid-1960s and were followed by a reclusive period in the mid-1970s that included drug and alcohol abuse. Wilson eventually returned to music but dealt with substance abuse and mental health issues for years after that. He experienced other ups and downs, from lawsuits related to his music – including against cousin Mike Love – to solo albums, touring success and a reunion with his surviving Beach Boys bandmates (his brother Dennis Wilson died in 1983, while his other brother Carl Wilson died in 1998).
A film about Wilson’s life, Love & Mercy, premiered in 2014 and a documentary called The Beach Boys, chronicling the band’s history and legacy, dropped last year on Disney+.
Of course, Wilson’s influence has been felt across the musical landscape for years. A section of Wilson’s official website is dedicated to testimonials about him and the Beach Boys from fellow music legends, including Neil Young (“He’s like Mozart or Chopin or Beethoven or something. This music will live forever. It’s going to be these melodies and these words, and it’s just fantastic”), Eric Clapton (“Without a doubt, a pop genius”), Questlove (“He’s a modern day Stravinsky, the way he constructs his music. He was doing stuff [40 years ago] that modern people do now”) and Stevie Nicks (“A lot of the big groups really did play off The Beach Boys and really get so much inspiration from them and really listen to them carefully and how they worked out their little intense vocal background parts. They were the reason why a lot of us sang and put stuff together the way we did. The Beach Boys are hugely important to all of us”) among many others.
Meanwhile, Wilson’s musical legacy lives on through the current iteration of The Beach Boys, led by Mike Love, that still tours.
In February, Love spoke to Zoomer about the band’s music and noted that, “mortality has definitely impacted not only us, but many other groups. But as long as you can sing or play that part, you can recreate those songs in a beautiful way.”
When asked about his relationship with Wilson at that time, he explained that during the filming of the 2024 documentary, “He and I sat together and we were singing songs. He’s got his challenges physically and emotionally, but his long-term memory is very much intact. He was remembering things and we were talking about things that happened during our high school years . So that was sweet because we got together and harmonized.
“We sang some songs together. That was not portrayed on the Disney+ special. However, just being together was. And so, that was a very nice way to end up, I think. My cousin Brian and I have been through ups and downs, not such great things all the time, but there’s a tremendous amount of love there and so much wonderful things that came out of our relationship musically.”
Tributes to Brian Wilson
In the wake of Wilson’s passing, many friends and admirers took to social media to pay tribute to the legendary musician.
In addition, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame shared an extensive tribute to the music legend, including a video of his 1988 induction into the hall as a member of the Beach Boys.
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