Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson, surf rock poet, dies at 82
Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys co-founder who masterminded the group's wild popularity and soundtracked the California dream, has died, his family announced on Wednesday. He was 82.
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'We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away. We are at a loss for words right now,' said the statement published on Wilson's social media accounts.
'We realise that we are sharing our grief with the world.'
The pop visionary crafted hits whose success rivalled The Beatles throughout the 1960s: between 1962 and 1966 a seemingly inexhaustible string of feel-good hits including 'Surfin' USA', 'I Get Around', 'Fun, Fun, Fun' and 'Surfer Girl' made the Beach Boys into America's biggest-selling band.
But after five years of prodigious songwriting, in which he produced 200 odes to sun, surfing and sun-tanned girls, Wilson sank into a deep, drug-fuelled depression for decades.
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He would emerge 35 years later to complete the Beach Boys' unfinished album, Smile, widely regarded as his masterpiece.
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