Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson, who created some of rock’s most enduring songs such as Good Vibrations and God Only Knows in a career that was marked by a decades-long battle between his musical genius, drug abuse and mental health issues, has died at the age of 82.
Wilson’s family announced his death in a statement on the singer’s website.
“We are at a loss for words right now,” the statement said. “We realise that we are sharing our grief with the world.”
The statement did not disclose a cause of death. Wilson had suffered from dementia and was unable to care for himself after his wife Melinda Wilson died in early 2024, prompting his family to put him under conservatorship.
Starting in 1961, the Beach Boys put out a string of sunny hits celebrating the touchstones of California youth culture – surfing, cars and romance. But what made the songs special were the ethereal harmonies that Wilson arranged and that would become the band’s lasting trademark.
Wilson formed the band with younger brothers Carl and Dennis, cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine in their hometown, the Los Angeles suburb of Hawthorne. They went on to have 36 Top 40 hits, with Wilson writing and composing most of the early works.
Songs such as Little Deuce Coupe, Surfin USA, California Girls, Fun, Fun, Fun and Help Me, Rhonda remain instantly recognisable and eminently danceable.
Pet Sounds, which was released in 1966, later would come to be recognised as Wilson’s magnum opus.
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