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New Statesman
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- New Statesman
The genius of Brian Wilson
When David Bowie died in January 2016, much of the British media – which, by that point, was largely run by those who had grown up in his pop-cultural shadow – sank into that specific sort of mourning only fans are capable of: deeply felt, self-reflexive, nostalgic for what a stranger had brought into their lives. This included the New Statesman, where I was a staffer at the time. After the news broke, our focus in the office pivoted abruptly from whatever internal Labour Party matter was on the editorial planner (probably anti-Corbyn resignations) to Bowie's music, his persona, his influence not only on pop and rock but on the worldviews of generations. He became our cover story. It's hard to imagine the death of someone like the Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson, who passed away this week, receiving similar treatment outside the music press, even though he was once by far a bigger star than Bowie. That's understandable, in a way. The Beach Boys, a phenomenon in their long-ago prime, have for years been maligned with a reputation for being the antithesis of cool. They were America's biggest-selling and perhaps most acclaimed rock'n'roll group of the early-to-mid-1960s, whose chamber-pop masterpiece Pet Sounds still lurks near the top of countless 'greatest albums of all time' lists. (It has been at second place on Rolling Stone's for decades.) Yet, by the early 1970s, they were largely dismissed as burn-outs, eclipsed by more overtly introspective singer-songwriters, harder-edged bands such as The Doors and awesome hit-makers from the fast-evolving soul and disco scenes. If they prematurely turned into old news, a hangover from the past, it was perhaps because they had once helped to define an era, and that era was over. In effervescent songs such as 1963's 'Surfer Girl' and 'Little Deuce Coupe', they had not only reflected Californian preoccupations with surfing and cars but had also turned them into symbols of a very American fantasy of postwar freedom. Even their more personal pieces, such as 1965's 'Please Let Me Wonder', with its chorus that so perfectly captures the hopeful uncertainty of young love, had sold the decadence of an increasingly wealthy, ascendant America that could offer its people the precious luxury of introspection. The fraught, more paranoid decade that followed, which in the US probably began in earnest with the Watergate scandal in 1972, brought a new cynicism that made the innocent promises made by these teenage symphonies feel all of a sudden hollow, at least to many. The US mainstream eventually re-embraced the Beach Boys and, under co-founder Mike Love's stewardship, the group came to embody a kind of proto-normcore conformism. They never quite reclaimed coolness. In 1983, Ronald Reagan's then interior secretary, James Watt, nixed the band's Independence Day gig at the National Mall in Washington, DC, citing fears that rock music would attract 'the wrong element'. George HW Bush, who was vice-president at the time, personally intervened and forced Watt to apologise. The Beach Boys were friends, after all. In 2020, a later incarnation of the group accepted a booking to play at a hunting group event at which Donald Trump Jr was a scheduled speaker. Lame. None of this, of course, was Brian Wilson's doing. The genius behind the Beach Boys, who wrote, produced and orchestrated the band's most enduring records, had stepped back from his role as band leader as his mental health deteriorated, while working on what was intended to be Pet Sounds' follow-up, Smile. The increasingly strung-out Wilson abandoned that project in 1967, and his time at the top, competing with the likes of Paul McCartney, effectively came to an end. But his talent remained. In his more lucid moments, it would emerge in songs such as the haunting 1971 Beach Boys track ''Til I Die' and albums including his weird-and-wonderful 1995 Van Dyke Parks collaboration Orange Crate Art. Best of all was 1977's The Beach Boys Love You, a surprisingly lo-fi synth-pop record featuring songs about the solar system and 'honkin' down the gosh-darn highway'. In its own style, it's an equal of Pet Sounds or Smile, which itself was finally completed in 2004 as a solo album. Wilson's sad, well-documented struggles following his mental collapse had the effect of insulating him from Love's tarnishing of the Beach Boys brand, and critics have admitted the best of his work into the US rock canon. But his music is all too often afforded a different kind of appreciation to what Bowie's, say, or Bob Dylan's work enjoys. Where those singer-songwriters are considered heroes of their own creative destinies, Wilson has long been spoken of by many as a sort of victim of his own wild imagination, talent and mind – a savant, rather than a true master. In the studio as a young man, though, he was 'in charge of it all', as the session player Carol Kaye once recalled. And I don't think he ever lost that capacity to expertly make us feel and fantasise, and let us wonder. Like the most accomplished of his peers, he shaped our worldviews, in his case crafting a vision of a more playful, gentler America that should and could still exist. In these pretty dark times, surely there's not much cooler than that. [See also: Addison Rae and the art of AgitPop] Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Related
Gulf Today
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Gulf Today
Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson dies at age 82
Beach Boys cofounder 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 was the ethereal harmonies that Wilson arranged and that would become the band's lasting trademark. The Beach Boys, Carl Wilson (left), Mike Love, Dennis Wilson, Bruce Johnston, and Al Jardine pose for a portrait in London in November 1966. File/AP 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 recognizable and eminently danceable. But there were plenty of bad vibrations in Wilson's life: an abusive father, a cornucopia of drugs, a series of mental breakdowns, long periods of seclusion and depression and voices in his head that, even when he was on stage, told him he was no good. "I've lived a very, very difficult, haunted life," Wilson told the Washington Post in 2007. The music group The Beach Boys are shown in this undated photograph. Shown are Mike Love, Al Jardine, Carl Wilson and Brian Wilson. Reuters In May 2024, a judge ruled the 81-year-old Wilson should be put under a conservatorship after two longtime associates had petitioned the court at his family's request, saying he could not care for himself following the death of his wife, Melinda. By 1966 touring had already become an ordeal for Wilson, who suffered what would be his first mental breakdown. He remained the Beach Boys' mastermind but retreated to the studio to work, usually without his bandmates, on "Pet Sounds," a symphonic reflection on the loss of innocence. The landmark "Good Vibrations" was recorded during those sessions, though it did not make it on to the album. Though "Pet Sounds" included hits such as "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "Sloop John B" and "God Only Knows", it was not an immediate commercial success in the United States. There also was resistance to the album within the band, especially from singer Love, who wanted to stick with the proven money-making sound. 'IT'S LIKE FALLING IN LOVE' "Pet Sounds", which was released in 1966, later would come to be recognized as Wilson's magnum opus. Paul McCartney said it was an influence on the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." "No one's musical education is complete until they've heard 'Pet Sounds'," McCartney said. In 2012 Rolling Stone magazine ranked it second only to "Sgt. Pepper" on its list of the 500 greatest rock albums. "Hearing 'Pet Sounds' gave me the kind of feeling that raises the hairs on the back of your neck and you say, 'What is that? It's fantastic,'" George Martin, the Beatles' legendary producer, said in the liner notes of a reissued version of the album. "It's like falling in love." Flowers and a note are kept on the star of band Beach Boys following musician Brian Wilson's death on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, California, US, on Wednesday. Reuters Released as a single that same year, "Good Vibrations" drew similar plaudits. On hearing the song, which would become the Beach Boys' greatest hit, Art Garfunkel called his musical partner Paul Simon to say: "I think I just heard the greatest, most creative record of them all." Stars of the music world paid tribute to Wilson on Wednesday. "Anyone with a musical bone in their body must be grateful for Brian Wilson's genius magical touch!!," Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood said on social media. Nancy Sinatra, who recorded a cover of "California Girls" with Wilson in 2002, wrote on Instagram that Wilson's "cherished music will live forever." Sean Ono Lennon, a musician and son of John Lennon, called Wilson "our American Mozart" and "a one of a kind genius from another world." The Beach Boys sold more than 100 million records. Wilson's career would be derailed, though, as his use of LSD, cocaine and alcohol became untenable and his mental state, which would eventually be diagnosed as schizoaffective disorder with auditory hallucinations, grew shakier. He became a recluse, lying in bed for days, abandoning hygiene, growing obese and sometimes venturing out in a bathrobe and slippers. He had a sandbox installed in his dining room and put his piano there. He also heard voices and was afraid that the lyrics of one of his songs were responsible for a series of fires in Los Angeles. UNORTHODOX THERAPY Born in June 1942, Brian Wilson, whose life was the subject of the 2014 movie "Love & Mercy," had two controlling men in his life. The first was his father, Murry Wilson, a part-time songwriter who recognized his son's musical talent early. He became the Beach Boys' manager and producer in their early years but also was physically and verbally abusive toward them. The band fired him in 1964. About a decade later, as Wilson floundered, his then-wife, Marilyn, hired psychotherapist Eugene Landy to help him. Landy spent 14 months with Wilson, using unusual methods such as promising him a cheeseburger if he wrote a song, before being dismissed. Landy was rehired in 1983 after Wilson went through another period of disturbing behavior that included overdosing, living in a city park and running up substantial debt. Landy used a 24-hour-a-day technique, which involved prescribing psychotropic drugs and padlocking the refrigerator, and eventually held sway over all aspects of Wilson's life, including serving as producer and co-writer of his music when he made a comeback with a 1988 solo album. Wilson's family went to court to end his relationship with Landy in 1992. Wilson said Landy had saved his life but also would later call him manipulative. California medical regulators accused Landy, who died in 2006, of improper involvement with a patient's affairs. He gave up his psychology license after admitting to unlawfully prescribing drugs. A sunflower lies atop the Beach Boys' star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame after the announcement of the death of the band's main songwriter Brian Wilson at 82, in Los Angeles on Wednesday AP Wilson's return to music was spotty. He appeared frail, tentative and shaky and none of the post-comeback work brought anything close to the acclaim of his earlier catalog. One of the best-received albums of his second act was the 2004 "Brian Wilson Presents Smile," a revisiting of the work that had been intended as the follow-up to "Pet Sounds" but which was scrapped because of opposition from bandmates. 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, for several shows. At the end, Wilson said he felt as if he had been fired but Love denied it. Wilson last performed live in 2022. Wilson and his first wife, Marilyn, had two daughters, Carnie and Wendy, who had hits in the 1990s as part of the group Wilson Phillips. He and second wife Melinda, whom he met when she sold him a car, had five children. Reuters
MTV Lebanon
a day ago
- Entertainment
- MTV Lebanon
Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson dies at age 82
Beach Boys cofounder 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 realize 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 was 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' U.S.A.," "California Girls," "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Help Me, Rhonda" remain instantly recognizable and eminently danceable. But there were plenty of bad vibrations in Wilson's life: an abusive father, a cornucopia of drugs, a series of mental breakdowns, long periods of seclusion and depression and voices in his head that, even when he was on stage, told him he was no good. "I've lived a very, very difficult, haunted life," Wilson told the Washington Post in 2007. In May 2024, a judge ruled the 81-year-old Wilson should be put under a conservatorship after two longtime associates had petitioned the court at his family's request, saying he could not care for himself following the death of his wife, Melinda. By 1966 touring had already become an ordeal for Wilson, who suffered what would be his first mental breakdown. He remained the Beach Boys' mastermind but retreated to the studio to work, usually without his bandmates, on "Pet Sounds," a symphonic reflection on the loss of innocence. The landmark "Good Vibrations" was recorded during those sessions, though it did not make it on to the album. Though "Pet Sounds" included hits such as "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "Sloop John B" and "God Only Knows", it was not an immediate commercial success in the United States. There also was resistance to the album within the band, especially from singer Love, who wanted to stick with the proven money-making sound.
TimesLIVE
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- TimesLIVE
Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson dies at age 82
Beach Boys cofounder 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 was 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' U.S.A., California Girls, Fun, Fun, Fun and Help Me, Rhonda remain instantly recognisable and eminently danceable. But there were plenty of bad vibrations in Wilson's life: an abusive father, a cornucopia of drugs, a series of mental breakdowns, long periods of seclusion and depression and voices in his head that, even when he was on stage, told him he was no good. 'I've lived a very, very difficult, haunted life,' Wilson told the Washington Post in 2007. In May 2024, a judge ruled the 81-year-old Wilson should be put under a conservatorship after two longtime associates had petitioned the court at his family's request, saying he could not care for himself after the death of his wife, Melinda. By 1966 touring had already become an ordeal for Wilson, who suffered what would be his first mental breakdown. He remained the Beach Boys' mastermind but retreated to the studio to work, usually without his bandmates, on Pet Sounds, a symphonic reflection on the loss of innocence. The landmark Good Vibrations was recorded during those sessions, though it did not make it on to the album. Though Pet Sounds included hits such as Wouldn't It Be Nice Sloop John B and God Only Knows, it was not an immediate commercial success in the US. There also was resistance to the album within the band, especially from singer Love, who wanted to stick with the proven moneymaking sound. 'IT'S LIKE FALLING IN LOVE' Pet Sounds, which was released in 1966, later would come to be recognised as Wilson's magnum opus. Paul McCartney said it was an influence on the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. 'No one's musical education is complete until they've heard Pet Sounds,' McCartney said. In 2012 Rolling Stone magazine ranked it second only to Sgt. Pepper on its list of the 500 greatest rock albums. 'Hearing Pet Sounds gave me the kind of feeling that raises the hairs on the back of your neck and you say, 'What is that? It's fantastic,'' George Martin, the Beatles' legendary producer, said in the liner notes of a reissued version of the album. 'It's like falling in love.' Released as a single that same year, Good Vibrations drew similar plaudits. On hearing the song, which would become the Beach Boys' greatest hit, Art Garfunkel called his musical partner Paul Simon to say: 'I think I just heard the greatest, most creative record of them all.' Stars of the music world paid tribute to Wilson on Wednesday. 'Anyone with a musical bone in their body must be grateful for Brian Wilson's genius magical touch!!,' Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood said on social media. Nancy Sinatra, who recorded a cover of California Girls with Wilson in 2002, wrote on Instagram that Wilson's 'cherished music will live forever'. Sean Ono Lennon, a musician and son of John Lennon, called Wilson 'our American Mozart' and 'a one of a kind genius from another world'. The Beach Boys sold more than 100-million records. Wilson's career would be derailed, though, as his use of LSD, cocaine and alcohol became untenable and his mental state, which would eventually be diagnosed as schizoaffective disorder with auditory hallucinations, grew shakier. He became a recluse, lying in bed for days, abandoning hygiene, growing obese and sometimes venturing out in a bathrobe and slippers. He had a sandbox installed in his dining room and put his piano there. He also heard voices and was afraid that the lyrics of one of his songs were responsible for a series of fires in Los Angeles. UNORTHODOX THERAPY Born in June 1942, Brian Wilson, whose life was the subject of the 2014 movie Love & Merc y, had two controlling men in his life. The first was his father, Murry Wilson, a part-time songwriter who recognised his son's musical talent early. He became the Beach Boys' manager and producer in their early years but also was physically and verbally abusive towards them. The band fired him in 1964. About a decade later, as Wilson floundered, his then-wife, Marilyn, hired psychotherapist Eugene Landy to help him. Landy spent 14 months with Wilson, using unusual methods such as promising him a cheeseburger if he wrote a song, before being dismissed. Landy was rehired in 1983 after Wilson went through another period of disturbing behaviour that included overdosing, living in a city park and running up substantial debt. Landy used a 24-hour-a-day technique, which involved prescribing psychotropic drugs and padlocking the refrigerator, and eventually held sway over all aspects of Wilson's life, including serving as producer and co-writer of his music when he made a comeback with a 1988 solo album. Wilson's family went to court to end his relationship with Landy in 1992. Wilson said Landy had saved his life but also would later call him manipulative. California medical regulators accused Landy, who died in 2006, of improper involvement with a patient's affairs. He gave up his psychology licence after admitting to unlawfully prescribing drugs. Wilson's return to music was spotty. He appeared frail, tentative and shaky and none of the post-comeback work brought anything close to the acclaim of his earlier catalogue. One of the best-received albums of his second act was the 2004 Brian Wilson Presents Smile, a revisiting of the work that had been intended as the follow-up to Pet Sounds but which was scrapped because of opposition from bandmates. 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, for several shows. At the end, Wilson said he felt as if he had been fired but Love denied it. Wilson last performed live in 2022. Wilson and his first wife, Marilyn, had two daughters, Carnie and Wendy, who had hits in the 1990s as part of the group Wilson Phillips. He and second wife Melinda, whom he met when she sold him a car, had five children.
AsiaOne
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- AsiaOne
Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson dies at age 82, Entertainment News
LOS ANGELES — Beach Boys cofounder 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 was 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 recognizable and eminently danceable. But there were plenty of bad vibrations in Wilson's life: an abusive father, a cornucopia of drugs, a series of mental breakdowns, long periods of seclusion and depression and voices in his head that, even when he was on stage, told him he was no good. "I've lived a very, very difficult, haunted life," Wilson told the Washington Post in 2007. In May 2024, a judge ruled the 81-year-old Wilson should be put under a conservatorship after two longtime associates had petitioned the court at his family's request, saying he could not care for himself following the death of his wife, Melinda. By 1966 touring had already become an ordeal for Wilson, who suffered what would be his first mental breakdown. He remained the Beach Boys' mastermind but retreated to the studio to work, usually without his bandmates, on Pet Sounds, a symphonic reflection on the loss of innocence. The landmark Good Vibrations was recorded during those sessions, though it did not make it on to the album. Though Pet Sounds included hits such as Wouldn't It Be Nice, Sloop John B and God Only Knows, it was not an immediate commercial success in the United States. There also was resistance to the album within the band, especially from singer Love, who wanted to stick with the proven money-making sound. 'It's like falling in love' Pet Sounds, which was released in 1966, later would come to be recognised as Wilson's magnum opus. Paul McCartney said it was an influence on the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." "No one's musical education is complete until they've heard Pet Sounds," McCartney said. In 2012 Rolling Stone magazine ranked it second only to Sgt. Pepper on its list of the 500 greatest rock albums. "Hearing Pet Sounds gave me the kind of feeling that raises the hairs on the back of your neck and you say, 'What is that? It's fantastic'," George Martin, the Beatles' legendary producer, said in the liner notes of a reissued version of the album. "It's like falling in love." Released as a single that same year, Good Vibrations drew similar plaudits. On hearing the song, which would become the Beach Boys' greatest hit, Art Garfunkel called his musical partner Paul Simon to say: "I think I just heard the greatest, most creative record of them all." Stars of the music world paid tribute to Wilson on Wednesday (June 11). "Anyone with a musical bone in their body must be grateful for Brian Wilson's genius magical touch!!," Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood said on social media. Nancy Sinatra, who recorded a cover of California Girls with Wilson in 2002, wrote on Instagram that Wilson's "cherished music will live forever". Sean Ono Lennon, a musician and son of John Lennon, called Wilson "our American Mozart" and "a one of a kind genius from another world". The Beach Boys sold more than 100 million records. Wilson's career would be derailed, though, as his use of LSD, cocaine and alcohol became untenable and his mental state, which would eventually be diagnosed as schizoaffective disorder with auditory hallucinations, grew shakier. He became a recluse, lying in bed for days, abandoning hygiene, growing obese and sometimes venturing out in a bathrobe and slippers. He had a sandbox installed in his dining room and put his piano there. He also heard voices and was afraid that the lyrics of one of his songs were responsible for a series of fires in Los Angeles. Unorthodox therapy Born in June 1942, Brian Wilson, whose life was the subject of the 2014 movie Love & Mercy, had two controlling men in his life. The first was his father, Murry Wilson, a part-time songwriter who recognised his son's musical talent early. He became the Beach Boys' manager and producer in their early years but also was physically and verbally abusive toward them. The band fired him in 1964. About a decade later, as Wilson floundered, his then-wife, Marilyn, hired psychotherapist Eugene Landy to help him. Landy spent 14 months with Wilson, using unusual methods such as promising him a cheeseburger if he wrote a song, before being dismissed. Landy was rehired in 1983 after Wilson went through another period of disturbing behaviour that included overdosing, living in a city park and running up substantial debt. Landy used a 24-hour-a-day technique, which involved prescribing psychotropic drugs and padlocking the refrigerator, and eventually held sway over all aspects of Wilson's life, including serving as producer and co-writer of his music when he made a comeback with a 1988 solo album. Wilson's family went to court to end his relationship with Landy in 1992. Wilson said Landy had saved his life but also would later call him manipulative. California medical regulators accused Landy, who died in 2006, of improper involvement with a patient's affairs. He gave up his psychology license after admitting to unlawfully prescribing drugs. Wilson's return to music was spotty. He appeared frail, tentative and shaky and none of the post-comeback work brought anything close to the acclaim of his earlier catalog. One of the best-received albums of his second act was the 2004 Brian Wilson Presents Smile, a revisiting of the work that had been intended as the follow-up to "Pet Sounds" but which was scrapped because of opposition from bandmates. 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, for several shows. At the end, Wilson said he felt as if he had been fired but Love denied it. Wilson last performed live in 2022. Wilson and his first wife, Marilyn, had two daughters, Carnie and Wendy, who had hits in the 1990s as part of the group Wilson Phillips. He and second wife Melinda, whom he met when she sold him a car, had five children. [[nid:718902]]
