Beach Boys Co-Founder Brian Wilson Passes Away at 82

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Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson, who created some of rock’s most enduring songs such as Good Vibrations and God Only Knows 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.

Wilson, the oldest and last remaining member of the trio of musical brothers, helped form the American rock group in 1961 with cousin Mike Love and schoolmate Al Jardine.

Five men, wearing the same checked shirt, and holding a surfboard.

The Beach Boys thrived thanks to Brian Wilson’s remarkable songwriting skills, surf-inspired musical style, and regular incorporation of vocal harmonies. Source: Getty / Michael Ochs Archives

The band, known for their vocal harmonies, signed with Capitol Records in 1962 and released their first album, Surfin’ Safari, that same year.

Music a safe haven for Wilson

Wilson was born on June 20 1942, and began to play the piano and teach his brothers to sing harmony as a young boy.

Music was a haven of safety and joy for Wilson after an upbringing in which he suffered abuse from his domineering father, who would go on to manage the group.

The Beach Boys started as a neighbourhood act, rehearsing in Wilson’s bedroom and in the garage of their house in suburban Hawthorne, California.

Wilson played bass while his brother Dennis drummed and Carl played lead guitar. The band’s work centred on Wilson’s songwriting and arrangements.

A man wearing a yellow shirt playing piano and singing into a microphone.

Brian Wilson performed regularly as a solo artist from 1999 to 2022. Source: Getty / Larry Hulst

Their debut single, Surfin’, became a minor hit on its release in 1961 but was nothing compared with the success that followed from their second studio album, Surfin’ USA, released in 1963.

The band’s 1966 album Pet Sounds is considered by many their defining work — and is often cited as one of the greatest albums of all time.

Wilson’s career would be derailed, though, as his drug use became untenable and his mental state, which would eventually be diagnosed as schizoaffective disorder with auditory hallucinations, grew shakier.

Splitting from the band in the late 1990s, Wilson released several solo albums, including 2004’s critically acclaimed Smile.

Wilson’s brothers had both died by the time of the Beach Boys’ 50th reunion tour in 2012, but he joined Love, who became the band’s controlling force in its later years, for several shows

They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 2001.