Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson dies at 82
In a statement shared by Brian Wilson's family, the singer-songwriter and co-founding member of the Beach Boys has died. He was 82.
Wilson's family took to his official X account on Wednesday, June 11, to share a photo of their father.
'We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away. We are at a loss for words right now,' the statement read.
'Please respect our privacy at this time as our family (is) grieving. We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world,' it continued, before the family signed off, writing, 'Love & Mercy.'
Wilson made up one-fifth of the popular rock group known as the Beach Boys, which included his brothers Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine.
The band was founded in 1961 and skyrocketed to fame following its release of its first single 'Surfin'' in November of that year.
Brian Wilson has been reported as the 'mastermind' behind the majority of the band's biggest hits, which include 'Good Vibrations,' 'Kokomo,' 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' and more.
As The Washington Post reported in 1971, Dennis Wilson called the group Brian's 'messengers.'
'Brian Wilson is the Beach Boys. He is all of it. Period. We're nothing. He's everything,' Dennis Wilson told the Post.
Brian Wilson once called 'Til I Die' his most personal song.
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New York Times
23 minutes ago
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Like His Music, Brian Wilson's Style Was Deceptively Complex
The band name was a fluke. Looking to cash in on the burgeoning surf culture in the United States, the record executive who first brought Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine together on the obscure Candix Records label in Southern California wanted to call the assembled musicians 'The Surfers.'' But another group, as it happened, had already claimed the name. And then there was an additional problem: only one of the band members, Dennis Wilson, actively surfed. And so, as Brian Wilson — the architect of the band's sound and image, whose death, at 82, was announced by his family on Wednesday — tweeted back in 2018, the promoter Russ Regan 'changed our name to the Beach Boys.' He added that the group members themselves found out only after they saw their first records pressed. Originally, the band had another name. It was one that speaks not only to the aural backdrop the Beach Boys provided for generations but also to their enduring influence on global style. As teenagers in the late 1950s and early '60s, the band had styled itself the Pendletones. It was a homage to what was then, and in some ways still is, an unofficial uniform of Southern California surfers: swim trunks or notch pocket khakis or white jeans, and a blazing white, ringspun cotton T-shirt worn under a sturdy woolen overshirt. The shirts the Pendletones wore were produced by the family-owned company, Pendleton Woolen Mills of Portland, Ore., and had been in production since 1924. The shirts were embraced by surfers for their over-the-top durability and the easy way they bridged the intersection between work and leisure wear. The blue and gray block plaid, which Pendleton would later rename as the 'Original Surf Plaid,'' was worn by every member of the Beach Boys on the cover of their debut album, 'Surfin' Safari.' It was a look that, novel then, has since been quoted in some form by men's wear designers from Hedi Slimane to Eli Russell Linnetz and Ralph Lauren. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
an hour ago
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Editorial: The influence of Brian Wilson, Sly Stone and … St. Charles?
Brian Wilson, the musical mastermind behind the Beach Boys, died at the age of 82, his family announced Wednesday. Earlier this week came news of the passing of Sly Stone, 82, whose startling originality combining elements of gospel, rock and soul enthralled audiences and fellow artists alike in the late '60s and early '70s recordings of Sly and the Family Stone. Both men were bona fide musical giants. Though their music was similar only in being groundbreaking, Wilson and Stone's lives followed similar, tragic narrative arcs. Both reached artistic peaks achieved by few others in pop music over periods of just a few years. Both were masters of the recording studio at a time when most artists left that part of their work to producers and focused on live performance. And both suffered from the ravages of drug abuse and mental illness for much of the remainder of their lives, making their many fans mourn for what more they could have offered. But what they created in their primes served as inspiration for legions of artists to come. Prince, Public Enemy and OutKast counted Sly Stone as a major influence. Wilson's lush, deceptively sophisticated harmonies and instrumentation were foundational for too many orchestral pop artists to count, and thanks to his epic rivalry with the Beatles in the mid-'60s, they pushed each other to greater heights. The Beatles' 'Rubber Soul' stirred Wilson to create his masterpiece, the Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds,' which then inspired the Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.' Speaking of 'Rubber Soul,' Wilson told the Tribune a little over a decade ago, 'I was so blown away by that damn album that I went and wrote ('God Only Knows.')' Paul McCartney subsequently called Wilson's work of genius possibly the greatest song ever written. Wilson set out to top the Fab Four yet again with what would have been 'Smile,' but threw in the towel on that legendary 'lost album' amid intra-band acrimony and debilitating mental health issues. Stone and Wilson both were children of California, but we choose to remember the brief but fascinating role of west suburban St. Charles in Wilson's life. Having remarried and feeling revived, Wilson moved to the suburb in the late 1990s to live near producer Joe Thomas, who worked on Wilson's 1998 comeback album, 'Imagination.' Wilson, an iconic Southern Californian, didn't learn to love Midwestern winters and in a few years' time moved back to where he once belonged. But we like to think our slightly less glamorous region played a significant role in Wilson's latter-years career resurgence that followed from what we'll call 'the St. Charles years,' topped by his 2004 celebrated re-creation with a stellar band of his vision for 'Smile.' God only knows what we'd do without the immense musical legacies Wilson and Stone left us this week. Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@
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Lainey Wilson Performs With Country Legend, 61, at CMA Fest
Lainey Wilson Performs With Country Legend, 61, at CMA Fest originally appeared on Parade. A duo country music fans deserve! Lainey Wilson took the stage at CMA Fest 2025 on Saturday, June 7, and was joined by none other than Wynonna Judd. Kimberly Schlapman and Karen Fairchild also performed with the powerhouse pair at the Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville, Tennessee. Of course, this isn't the first time Wilson, 33, and Judd, 61, have collaborated. In June 2024, they teamed up to record a powerful cover of Tom Petty's 'Refugee.' Wilson and Judd later made their on-stage debut to perform the track in Nashville as part of Wilson's 'Country's Cool Again' tour. Ultimately, Wilson has never been shy about her admiration of Judd. 'They were The Judds. I mean, they were the soundtrack of my childhood,' Wilson told Us Weekly in a 2023 interview referring to Wilson's musical duo with her mother, Naomi Judd. 'I remember going to my [grandmother 's] house. She'd pick me and my sister up to go eat, and we would crank up the Judds.' 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬 As for recording music with Judd, Wilson will never forget it! 'That was one of the coolest experiences of my life. My gosh, every time I tried to use that growl in my voice, I was trying to channel my inner Wynonna. Everybody wants an inner Wynonna,' the 'Hang Tight Honey' artist said in a separate interview with American Songwriter. 'Getting to have that experience with her, in her studio, in her house, with her husband Cactus, it was wild,' Wilson recalled. 'We went in to cut the vocals at the exact same time. We were just separated by a thin wall, and we just got to riff off of each other. It was pure magic." Lainey Wilson Performs With Country Legend, 61, at CMA Fest first appeared on Parade on Jun 8, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 8, 2025, where it first appeared.
