Latest news with #LoveAndMercy
CTV News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- CTV News
‘Mind-blowing': Former Barenaked Ladies frontman recalls performing with Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson arrives on the red carpet for the film "Love and Mercy" at the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto on Sunday Sept. 7, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn TORONTO — When Steven Page penned an ode to musical visionary Brian Wilson, he never expected to share a stage with the Beach Boy, perform alongside him nor hear him sing 'Brian Wilson' to a roaring Toronto audience. But in the summer of 2000, Page says he felt an 'absolute dream come true' when all that happened during Wilson's tour stop with Paul Simon at Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre. Page says he knew Wilson had performed the song at previous concerts and expected to hear it, but not as the opening number. As news of Wilson's death broke Wednesday, Page looked back fondly at the memory of being in the audience while a musical hero sang Barenaked Ladies' 1992 hit 'Brian Wilson.' 'Every musician in Toronto was sitting around us, and they all kind of turned their head to look at me,' said Page, who later joined Wilson and Simon for the encore to sing Wilson's 'Love and Mercy' and the Beach Boys' 'Fun, Fun, Fun.' 'And I thought, like, do I stand up and wave, or do I hide, or what do I do? I mean, just absolute dream come true.' Singer Steven Page poses for a photograph in Toronto on Thursday, October. 14, 2010. Page has a new solo album coming out called "Page One." (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette) Singer Steven Page poses for a photograph in Toronto on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette) Wilson's family posted news of his death to his website Wednesday. He was 82. 'Obviously, (I was) sad to hear that Brian had passed. It's been a tough couple years for him, I think, with his declining health and the loss of his wife, Melinda,' Page said. Page wrote the song 'Brian Wilson' when he was a 19-year-old student at Toronto's York University, drawing inspiration from his own struggles and eager to see more empathy in discourse about mental health in the music industry. Even though he named it after the much-lauded musician who faced highly publicized mental health struggles, Page says he was actually not a great fan of the Beach Boys before then, considering them 'lightweight and not as musically evolved.' He changed his tune after a classmate made him a mixtape. Page said he always felt Wilson was depicted in the press as a 'rock 'n' roll casualty' and wanted to bring more empathy and nuance to discussions of mental health in rock music. 'Even then, as a teenager I could hear in the music this kind of struggle between light and dark and that really appealed to me,' said Page, who split with Barenaked Ladies in 2009. The tune became a hit for the band and a staple in their live set. Eight years after it appeared on their debut album 'Gordon,' Barenaked Ladies recorded an album at the same L.A. studio used to make the Beach Boys' classic 1966 album 'Pet Sounds.' Page says their producer at the time, Don Was, said he had a surprise for the band and introduced them to Wilson and his wife, Melinda. Page says during that meeting, Wilson played them a recording of his rendition of 'Brian Wilson,' which appeared on his 2000 live album, 'Live at the Roxy Theatre.' 'It was amazing to hear this song that I wrote in my parents' basement when I was a teenager being sung by one of the most important composers in the history of mankind. Even if it was a joke, it was mind-blowing,' Page said. 'At one point where I sing: 'If you want to find me / I'll be out in the sandbox wondering where the hell all the love has gone / Playing my guitar and singing and building castles in the sun,' he changed it to 'playing my piano.' He just turned to me and said 'I don't play guitar.'' Page also recalls performing 'Brian Wilson' with the Barenaked Ladies at a pre-Grammy tribute celebration honouring Wilson in 2005, when he was selected as the MusiCares Person of the Year. The group performed an a capella-style version of the song and was the only act that played a song not written by Wilson. Page said the Beach Boys' harmonies were 'hugely' influential on the Barenaked Ladies, which also boasted a five-man lineup. The Beach Boys, he said, gave the group 'a palette to choose from that didn't really exist in music without them.' 'On top of that, Brian's adventurousness in the studio — as far as choices of instruments, the way the songs can flow in and out of each other — those are the kinds of things that, as we matured as musicians, continued to excite. And still continue for me to excite and inspire me.' 'He really is one of the greats. He is like Beethoven and Paul McCartney all mixed together,' Page said. Randy Bachman, former Guess Who guitarist and Bachman-Turner Overdrive frontman, also played tribute to Wilson in a social media post where he referred to the Beach Boys as being 'like family' after playing several shows with the group in the '60s. 'They were the American answer to the Beatles. They wowed everyone with the songs, structures, vocals harmonies … We lost one of the greatest composers and messengers who took jazz harmony, put it to a Chuck Berry beat and made a new genre of music,' Bachman wrote. According to a post on his Facebook page, Wilson became an honorary citizen of Calgary in the city's famed white hat ceremony in 2011. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025. Cassidy McMackon, The Canadian Press
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The 'monster' who seized control of Beach Boys icon Brian Wilson's entire life
It was one of the strangest relationships in pop history - the therapist who took complete control of Beach Boy Brian Wilson's life when he was at his weakest. Eugene Landy was portrayed as a manipulative monster in John Cusack's 2015 movie Love & Mercy.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Brian Wilson's touching love story with wife Melinda: How the late Beach Boys singer met his 'savior'
The late Brian Wilson and his wife Melinda Ledbetter had a powerful love story that all began in 1986 at a car dealership. While the couple split three years into their romance as a result of the Beach Boy singer's therapist and then-legal guardian Dr. Eugene Levy, they eventually wed and started a family together. They remained married until Ledbetter's death in January 2024. Just over a year later, on Wednesday, Wilson's children announced his passing at age 82. The couple's inspiring romance even was the subject of the 2015 biopic, Love & Mercy, which starred John Cusack as Brian and Elizabeth Banks as Melinda. 'I remember meeting her at her dealership, Cadillac, and I said, "God, she's a pretty girl,"' Wilson told ABC News during a joint interview with his wife in 2015. 'I just said to myself, "God, I think I'll see her again sometime.' 'That's what attracted me to him,' Ledbetter said. 'He was so nice.' The sale was the fastest Ledbetter had ever conducted, according to Rolling Stone. 'And he bought the ugliest car,' she said with a giggle during a 1999 interview with the magazine with her husband 'Honey, I always thought that was an ugly Seville, that color brown.' 'I liked it,' her husband insisted. At the time, Landy wielded heavy influence over Wilson's life. But Ledbetter was key in assisting Wilson in extricating Landy from his life. Landy, who died in 2006, was barred from any contact with the Beach Boys artist in 1992, a year after Wilson's relatives sued Landy and said that he had 'undue influence' over the musical artist. Landy was the one to call Ledbetter to arrange their first date. His life was pretty choreographed,' she said. 'But I just thought Brian was, like, the sweetest guy I had ever met. I thought, 'I gotta go see what this is all about.' They were together for three years until Landy intervened and ended the romance. 'He was overmedicating Wilson and doing a lot of things that doctors shouldn't do,' Ledbetter recalled to the publication. 'I was questioning things, and that pissed him off. But I had seen something that was so wrong — it was like someone taking a child and abusing them, and none of the neighbors wanted to know about it.' Three years later, after the law intervened to remove Landy from his life, that they reunited. 'I was driving down Pico Boulevard one day and I nearly ran over him,' she recalled of their fateful 1992 reunion. 'He had gone across the street from his studio to sneak a cigarette and I almost hit him, so I stopped and we just started to see each other again. It was like fate.' The relationship between Wilson and Ledbetter was chronicled in a 2014 biopic film titled Love & Mercy. The motion picture examined the Beach Boys singer's past battles with mental illness; and his controversial dealings with his late therapist. Ledbetter said in a 2004 appearance on Larry King that Wilson was largely estranged from his friends, family and colleagues when she met him in the 1980s during his time under Landy's care. She said of Landy, 'He was called into help and I think originally he did help. He helped Brian lose weight. He helped Brian care about himself physically again. 'As time went on, he became very captive of Brian. Brian was primarily a prisoner.' Ledbetter in May of 1998 spoke with The Chicago Tribune about Wilson rebuilding his life after parting ways with Landy, as well as the problematic upbringing he endured. 'He came from an incredibly dysfunctional family,' Ledbetter said. 'His father was abusive, his father was abused. And Brian should have been an abuser too. Instead, Brian just withdrew. He was never involved with his kids.' Ledbetter continued: 'Now, although music is still extremely important to him, he's learned that there's love, family. I just wonder what the music would have been like if he had this sooner, what he could have done if he had a supportive, loving family around him all along.' During their marriage, Brian and Melinda adopted five children together - Dakota Rose, Daria Rose, Delanie Rose, Dylan and Dash. The singer also has daughters Carnie, 57, and Wendy, 55, from his first marriage to Marilyn Rovell. Last year, weeks after the death of Melinda, it emerged that Brian had been diagnosed with a neurocognitive disorder similar to dementia. His children announced their father's death on the singer's official Instagram page this Wednesday, alongside what appeared to be a recent photo. 'We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away. We are at a loss for words right now,' they wrote. 'Please respect our privacy at this time as our family is grieving. We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world. Love & Mercy.'
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson dead at 82
Legendary singer-songwriter Brian Wilson, who founded the Beach Boys, has died at the age of 82, his family has confirmed. 'We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away,' they wrote in a message shared on Instagram. 'We are at a loss for words right now. Please respect our privacy at this time as our family is grieving. We realise that we are sharing our grief with the world.' The statement was signed off with the phrase 'Love & Mercy', in a nod to the title track of Wilson's first solo album and also the name of the 2014 film based on his life. Early last year, it was revealed that Wilson had been living with a degenerative disorder similar to dementia. The Beach Boys were one of the most successful bands of all time, with 10 top-10 hits and seven more tracks charting in the top 40 - most of which were written or co-written and produced by Wilson.
