Brian Wilson, Beach Boys visionary leader and summer's poet laureate, dies at 82
Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys' visionary and fragile leader whose genius for melody, arrangements and wide-eyed self-expression inspired 'Good Vibrations,' 'California Girls' and other summertime anthems and made him one of the world's most influential recording artists, has died at 82.
Wilson's family posted news of his death to his website and social media accounts Wednesday. Further details weren't immediately available. Since May 2024, Wilson had been under a court conservatorship to oversee his personal and medical affairs, with Wilson's longtime representatives, publicist Jean Sievers and manager LeeAnn Hard, in charge.
The eldest and last surviving of three musical brothers — Brian played bass, Carl lead guitar and Dennis drums — he and his fellow Beach Boys rose in the 1960s from local California band to national hitmakers to international ambassadors of surf and sun. Wilson himself was celebrated for his gifts and pitied for his demons. He was one of rock's great Romantics, a tormented man who in his peak years embarked on an ever-steeper path to aural perfection, the one true sound.
The Beach Boys rank among the most popular groups of the rock era, with more than 30 singles in the Top 40 and worldwide sales of more than 100 million. The 1966 album 'Pet Sounds' was voted No. 2 in a 2003 Rolling Stone list of the best 500 albums, losing out, as Wilson had done before, to the Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.' The Beach Boys, who also featured Wilson cousin Mike Love and childhood friend Al Jardine, were voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
Wilson feuded with Love over songwriting credits, but peers otherwise adored him beyond envy, from Elton John and Bruce Springsteen to Katy Perry and Carole King. The Who's drummer, Keith Moon, fantasized about joining the Beach Boys. Paul McCartney cited 'Pet Sounds' as a direct inspiration on the Beatles and the ballad 'God Only Knows' as among his favorite songs, often bringing him to tears.
Wilson moved and fascinated fans and musicians long after he stopped having hits. In his later years, Wilson and a devoted entourage of younger musicians performed 'Pet Sounds' and his restored opus, 'Smile,' before worshipful crowds in concert halls. Meanwhile, The Go-Go's, Lindsey Buckingham, Animal Collective and Janelle Monáe were among a wide range of artists who emulated him, whether as a master of crafting pop music or as a pioneer of pulling it apart.
The Beach Boys' music was like an ongoing party, with Wilson as host and wallflower. He was a tall, shy man, partially deaf (allegedly because of beatings by his father, Murry Wilson), with a sweet, crooked grin, and he rarely touched a surfboard unless a photographer was around. But out of the lifestyle that he observed and such musical influences as Chuck Berry and the Four Freshmen, he conjured a golden soundscape — sweet melodies, shining harmonies, vignettes of beaches, cars and girls — that resonated across time and climates.
Decades after its first release, a Beach Boys song can still conjure instant summer — the wake-up guitar riff that opens 'Surfin' USA'; the melting vocals of 'Don't Worry Baby'; the chants of 'fun, fun, fun' or 'good, good, GOOD, good vibrations'; the behind-the-wheel chorus ''Round, 'round, get around, I get around.' Beach Boys songs have endured from turntables and transistor radios to boom boxes and iPhones, or any device that could lie on a beach towel or be placed upright in the sand.
The band's innocent appeal survived the group's increasingly troubled backstory, whether Brian's many personal trials, the feuds and lawsuits among band members or the alcoholism of Dennis Wilson, who drowned in 1983. Brian Wilson's ambition raised the Beach Boys beyond the pleasures of their early hits and into a world transcendent, eccentric and destructive. They seemed to live out every fantasy, and many nightmares, of the California myth they helped create.
Brian Wilson was born June 20, 1942, two days after McCartney. His musical gifts were soon obvious, and as a boy he was playing piano and teaching his brothers to sing harmony. The Beach Boys started as a neighborhood act, rehearsing in Brian's bedroom and in the garage of their house in suburban Hawthorne, California. Surf music, mostly instrumental in its early years, was catching on locally: Dennis Wilson, the group's only real surfer, suggested they cash in. Brian and Love hastily wrote up their first single, 'Surfin,'' a minor hit released in 1961.
They wanted to call themselves the Pendletones, in honor of a popular flannel shirt they wore in early publicity photos. But when they first saw the pressings for 'Surfin,'' they discovered the record label had tagged them 'The Beach Boys.' Other decisions were handled by their father, a musician of some frustration who hired himself as manager and holy terror. By mid-decade, Murry Wilson had been displaced and Brian, who had been running the band's recording sessions almost from the start, was in charge, making the Beach Boys the rare group of the time to work without an outside producer.
Their breakthrough came in early 1963 with 'Surfin' USA,' so closely modeled on Berry's 'Sweet Little Sixteen' that Berry successfully sued to get a songwriting credit. It was their first Top 10 hit and a boast to the nation: 'If everybody had an ocean / across the USA / then everybody'd be surfin,' / like Cali-for-nye-ay.' From 1963-66, they were rarely off the charts, hitting No. 1 with 'I Get Around' and 'Help Me, Rhonda' and narrowly missing with 'California Girls' and 'Fun, Fun, Fun.' For television appearances, they wore candy-striped shirts and grinned as they mimed their latest hit, with a hot rod or surfboard nearby.
Their music echoed private differences. Wilson often contrasted his own bright falsetto with Love's nasal, deadpan tenor. The extroverted Love was out front on the fast songs, but when it was time for a slow one, Brian took over. 'The Warmth of the Sun' was a song of despair and consolation that Wilson alleged — to some skepticism — he wrote the morning after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. 'Don't Worry Baby,' a ballad equally intoxicating and heartbreaking, was a leading man's confession of doubt and dependence, an early sign of Brian's crippling anxieties.
Stress and exhaustion led to a breakdown in 1964 and his retirement from touring, his place soon filled by Bruce Johnston, who remained with the group for decades. Wilson was an admirer of Phil Spector's 'Wall of Sound' productions and emulated him on Beach Boys tracks, adding sleigh bells to 'Dance, Dance, Dance' or arranging a mini-theme park of guitar, horns, percussion and organ as the overture to 'California Girls.'
By the mid-1960s, the Beach Boys were being held up as the country's answer to the Beatles, a friendly game embraced by each group, transporting pop music to the level of 'art' and leaving Wilson a broken man.
The Beatles opened with 'Rubber Soul,' released in late 1965 and their first studio album made without the distractions of movies or touring. It was immediately praised as a major advance, the lyrics far more personal and the music far more subtle and sophisticated than such earlier hits as 'She Loves You' and 'A Hard Day's Night.' Wilson would recall getting high and listening to the record for the first time, promising himself he would not only keep up with the British band, but top them.
Wilson worked for months on what became 'Pet Sounds,' and months on the single 'Good Vibrations.' He hired an outside lyricist, Tony Asher, and used various studios, with dozens of musicians and instruments ranging from violins to bongos to the harpsichord. The air seemed to cool on some tracks and the mood turn reflective, autumnal. From 'I Know There's an Answer' to 'You Still Believe in Me,' many of the songs were ballads, reveries, brushstrokes of melody, culminating in the sonic wonders of 'Good Vibrations,' a psychedelic montage that at times sounded as if recorded in outer space.
The results were momentous, yet disappointing. 'Good Vibrations' was the group's first million-seller and 'Pet Sounds,' which included the hits 'Sloop John B' and 'Wouldn't It Be Nice,' awed McCartney, John Lennon and Eric Clapton among others. Widely regarded as a new kind of rock LP, it was more suited to headphones than to the radio, a 'concept' album in which individual songs built to a unified experience, so elaborately crafted in the studio that 'Pet Sounds' couldn't be replicated live with the technology of the time. Wilson was likened not just to the Beatles, but to Mozart and George Gershwin, whose 'Rhapsody in Blue' had inspired him since childhood.
But the album didn't chart as highly as previous Beach Boys releases and was treated indifferently by the U.S. record label, Capitol. The Beatles, meanwhile, were absorbing lessons from the Beach Boys and teaching some in return. 'Revolver' and 'Sgt. Pepper,' the Beatles' next two albums, drew upon the Beach Boys' vocal tapestries and melodic bass lines and even upon the animal sounds from the title track of 'Pet Sounds.' The Beatles' epic 'A Day in the Life' reconfirmed the British band as kings of the pop world and 'Sgt. Pepper' as the album to beat.
All eyes turned to Wilson and his intended masterpiece — a 'teenage symphony to God' he called 'Smile.' It was a whimsical cycle of songs on nature and American folklore written with lyricist Van Dyke Parks. The production bordered on method acting; for a song about fire, Wilson wore a fire helmet in the studio. The other Beach Boys were confused, and strained to work with him. A shaken Wilson delayed 'Smile,' then canceled it.
Remnants, including the songs 'Heroes and Villains' and 'Wind Chimes' were re-recorded and issued in September 1967 on 'Smiley Smile,' dismissed by Carl Wilson as a 'bunt instead of a grand slam.' The stripped down 'Wild Honey,' released three months later, became a critical favorite but didn't restore the band's reputation. The Beach Boys soon descended into an oldies act, out of touch with the radical '60s, and Wilson withdrew into seclusion.
Addicted to drugs and psychologically helpless, sometimes idling in a sandbox he had built in his living room, Wilson didn't fully produce another Beach Boys record for years. Their biggest hit of the 1970s was a greatest hits album, 'Endless Summer,' that also helped reestablish them as popular concert performers.
Although well enough in the 21st century to miraculously finish 'Smile' and tour and record again, Wilson had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and baffled interviewers with brief and disjointed answers. Among the stranger episodes of Wilson's life was his relationship with Dr. Eugene Landy, a psychotherapist accused of holding a Svengali-like power over him. A 1991 lawsuit from Wilson's family blocked Landy from Wilson's personal and business affairs.
His first marriage, to singer Marilyn Rovell, ended in divorce and he became estranged from daughters Carnie and Wendy, who would help form the pop trio Wilson Phillips. His life stabilized in 1995 with his marriage to Melinda Ledbetter, who gave birth to two more daughters, Daria and Delanie. He also reconciled with Carnie and Wendy and they sang together on the 1997 album 'The Wilsons.' (Melinda Ledbetter died in 2024.)
In 1992, Brian Wilson eventually won a $10 million out-of-court settlement for lost songwriting royalties. But that victory and his 1991 autobiography, 'Wouldn't It Be Nice: My Own Story,' set off other lawsuits that tore apart the musical family.
Carl Wilson and other relatives believed the book was essentially Landy's version of Brian's life and questioned whether Brian had even read it. Their mother, Audree Wilson, unsuccessfully sued publisher HarperCollins because the book said she passively watched as her husband beat Brian as a child. Love successfully sued Brian Wilson, saying he was unfairly deprived of royalties after contributing lyrics to dozens of songs. He would eventually gain ownership of the band's name.
The Beach Boys still released an occasional hit single: 'Kokomo,' made without Wilson, hit No. 1 in 1988. Wilson, meanwhile, released such solo albums as 'Brian Wilson' and 'Gettin' In Over My Head,' with cameos by McCartney and Clapton among others. He also completed a pair of albums for the Walt Disney label — a collection of Gershwin songs and music from Disney movies. In 2012, surviving members of the Beach Boys reunited for a 50th anniversary album, which quickly hit the Top 10 before the group again bickered and separated.
Wilson won just two competitive Grammys, for the solo instrumental 'Mrs. O'Leary's Cow' and for 'The Smile Sessions' box set. Otherwise, his honors ranged from a Grammy lifetime achievement prize to a tribute at the Kennedy Center to induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2018, he returned to his old high school in Hawthorne and witnessed the literal rewriting of his past: The principal erased an 'F' he had been given in music and awarded him an 'A.'
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Metallica, Guns N Roses, Slayer, Tool, Pantera, Gojira, Alice in Chains, Lamb of God, Halestorm, Anthrax, Rival Sons and Mastodon all did sets. Tom Morello, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, Billy Corgan, Ronnie Wood, Travis Barker, Sammy Hagar and more made appearances. Actor Jason Momoa was the host for the festivities. 'Black Sabbath: we'd all be different people without them, that's the truth,' said Pantera singer Phil Anselmo. 'I know I wouldn't be up here with a microphone in my hand without Black Sabbath.' Outlandish exploits and a classic look Osbourne embodied the excesses of metal. His outlandish exploits included relieving himself on the Alamo, snorting a line of ants off a sidewalk and, most memorably, biting the head off the live bat that a fan threw onstage during a 1981 concert. (He said he thought it was rubber.) Osbourne was sued in 1987 by parents of a 19-year-old teen who died by suicide while listening to his song 'Suicide Solution.' The lawsuit was dismissed. Osbourne said the song was really about the dangers of alcohol, which caused the death of his friend Bon Scott, lead singer of AC/DC. Then-Cardinal John J. O'Connor of New York claimed in 1990 that Osbourne's songs led to demonic possession and even suicide. 'You are ignorant about the true meaning of my songs,' the singer wrote back. 'You have also insulted the intelligence of rock fans all over the world.' Audiences at Osbourne shows could be mooned or spit on by the singer. They would often be hectored to scream along with the song, but the Satan-invoking Osbourne would usually send the crowds home with their ears ringing and a hearty 'God bless!' He started an annual tour — Ozzfest — in 1996 after he was rejected from the lineup of what was then the top touring music festival, Lollapalooza. Ozzfest has gone on to host such bands as Slipknot, Tool, Megadeth, Rob Zombie, System of a Down, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park. Osbourne's look changed little over his life. He wore his long hair flat, heavy black eye makeup and round glasses, often wearing a cross around his neck. In 2013, he reunited with Black Sabbath for the dour, raw '13,' which reached No. 1 on the U.K. Albums Chart and peaked at No. 86 on the U.S. Billboard 200. In 2019, he had a Top 10 hit when featured on Post Malone's 'Take What You Want,' Osbourne's first song in the Top 10 since 1989. In 2020, he released the album 'Ordinary Man,' which had as its title song a duet with Elton John. 'I've been a bad guy, been higher than the blue sky/And the truth is I don't wanna die an ordinary man,' he sang. In 2022, he landed his first career back-to-back No. 1 rock radio singles from his album 'Patient Number 9,' which featured collaborations with Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Mike McCready, Chad Smith, Robert Trujillo and Duff McKagan. It earned four Grammy nominations, winning two. (Osbourne won five Grammys over his lifetime.) At the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2024, Jack Black called him 'greatest frontman in the history of rock 'n' roll' and 'the Jack Nicholson of rock.' Osbourne thanked his fans, his guitarist Randy Rhoads and his longtime wife, Sharon Osbourne. The beginnings of Black Sabbath John Michael Osbourne was raised in the gritty city of Birmingham. Kids in school nicknamed him Ozzy, short for his surname. As a boy, he loved the Four Seasons, Chuck Berry and Little Richard. The Beatles made a huge impression. 'They came from Liverpool, which was approximately 60 miles north of where I come from,' he told Billboard. 'So all of a sudden it was in my grasp, but I never thought it would be as successful as it became.' In the late 1960s, Osbourne had teamed up with Butler, guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward as the Polka Tulk Blues Band. They decided to rename the band Earth, but found to their dismay there was another band with that name. So they changed the name to the American title of the classic Italian horror movie 'I Tre Volti Della Paura,' starring Boris Karloff: Black Sabbath. Once they found their sludgy, ominous groove, the band was productive, putting out their self-titled debut and 'Paranoid' in 1970, 'Master of Reality' in 1971, 'Vol. 4' in 1972 and 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' in 1973. The music was all about industrial guitar riffs and disorienting changes in time signatures, along with lyrics that spoke of alienation and doom. 'People think I'm insane because I am frowning all the time,' Osbourne sang in one song. 'All day long I think of things but nothing seems to satisfy/Think I'll lose my mind if I don't find something to pacify.' The Guardian newspaper in 2009 said the band 'introduced working-class anger, stoner sludge grooves and witchy horror-rock to flower power. Black Sabbath confronted the empty platitudes of the 1960s and, along with Altamont and Charles Manson, almost certainly helped kill off the hippy counterculture.' After Sabbath, Osbourne had an uncanny knack for calling some of the most creative young guitarists to his side. When he went solo, he hired the brilliant innovator Rhoads, who played on two of Osbourne's finest solo albums, 'Blizzard of Ozz' and 'Diary of a Madman.' Rhoads was killed in a freak plane accident in 1982; Osbourne released the live album 'Tribute' in 1987 in his memory. Osbourne then signed Jake E. Lee, who lent his talents to the platinum albums 'Bark at the Moon' and 'The Ultimate Sin.' Hotshot Zakk Wylde joined Osbourne's band for 'No Rest for the Wicked' and the multiplatinum 'No More Tears.' 'They come along, they sprout wings, they blossom, and they fly off,' Osbourne said of his players in 1995 to The Associated Press. 'But I have to move on. To get a new player now and again boosts me on.' Courting controversy — and wholesomeness Whomever he was playing with, Osbourne wasn't likely to back down from controversy. He had the last laugh when the TV evangelist the Rev. Jimmy Swaggart in 1986 lambasted various rock groups and rock magazines as 'the new pornography,' prompting some retailers to pull Osbourne's album. When Swaggart later was caught with a sex worker in 1988, Osbourne put out the song 'Miracle Man' about his foe: 'Miracle man got busted/miracle man got busted,' he sang. 'Today I saw a Miracle Man, on TV cryin'/Such a hypocritical man, born again, dying.' Much later, a whole new Osbourne would be revealed when 'The Osbournes,' which ran on MTV from 2002-2005, showed this one-time self-proclaimed madman drinking Diet Cokes as he struggled to find the History Channel on his new satellite television or warning his kids not to smoke or drink before they embarked on a night on the town. Later, he and his son Jack toured America on the travel show 'Ozzy & Jack's World Detour,' where the pair visited such places as Mount Rushmore and the Space Center Houston. Osbourne was honored in 2014 with the naming of a bat frog found in the Amazon that makes high-pitched, batlike calls. It was dubbed Dendropsophus ozzyi. He also met Queen Elizabeth II during her Golden Jubilee weekend. He was standing next to singer-actor Cliff Richard. 'She took one look at the two of us, said 'Oh, so this is what they call variety, is it?' then cracked up laughing. I honestly thought that Sharon had slipped some acid into my cornflakes that morning,' he wrote in 'I Am Ozzy.' Thelma Riley and Osbourne married in 1971; Osbourne adopted her son Elliot Kingsley, and they had two more children, Jessica and Louis. Osbourne later met his wife, then Sharon Levy, who became her own celebrity persona, when she was running her father's Los Angeles office. Her father was Don Arden, a top concert promoter and artist manager. She went to Osbourne's hotel in Los Angeles to collect money, which Osbourne had spent on drugs. 'She says she'll come back in three days and I'd better have it. I'd always fancied her and I thought, 'Ah, she's coming back! Maybe I have a chance.' I had pizza hanging from my hair, cigarette ashes on my shirt,' he told the Los Angeles Times in 2000. They married in 1982, had three children — Kelly, Aimee and Jack — and endured periodic separations and reconciliations. He is survived by Sharon Osbourne and his children.
