Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and mastery of recording techniques, he is widely acknowledged as one of the most innovative and significant songwriters of the 20th century. His best-known work is distinguished for its high production values, complex harmonies and orchestrations, layered vocals, and introspective or ingenuous themes. Wilson is also known for his formerly high-ranged singing and for his lifelong struggles with mental illness.
For other people named Brian Wilson, see Brian Wilson (disambiguation).
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson
June 20, 1942
Inglewood, California, U.S.
Hawthorne, California, U.S.
- Musician
- singer
- songwriter
- record producer
- Vocals
- keyboards
- bass
1961–present
Raised in Hawthorne, California, Wilson's formative influences included George Gershwin, the Four Freshmen, Phil Spector, and Burt Bacharach. In 1961, he began his professional career as a member of the Beach Boys, serving as the band's songwriter, producer, co-lead vocalist, bassist, keyboardist, and de facto leader. After signing with Capitol Records in 1962, he became the first pop artist credited for writing, arranging, producing, and performing his own material. He also produced other acts, most notably the Honeys and American Spring. By the mid-1960s he had written or co-written more than two dozen U.S. Top 40 hits, including the number-ones "Surf City" (1963), "I Get Around" (1964), "Help Me, Rhonda" (1965), and "Good Vibrations" (1966). He is considered among the first music producer auteurs and the first rock producers to apply the studio as an instrument.
In 1964, Wilson had a nervous breakdown and resigned from regular concert touring to focus on songwriting and production, leading to works such as the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and his first credited solo release, "Caroline, No" (both 1966), as well as the unfinished album Smile. As he declined professionally and psychologically in the late 1960s, his contributions to the band diminished, and legends grew around his lifestyle of seclusion, overeating, and drug abuse.[1] His first comeback, divisive among fans, yielded the would-be solo effort The Beach Boys Love You (1977). In the 1980s, he formed a controversial creative and business partnership with his psychologist, Eugene Landy, and relaunched his solo career with the self-titled album Brian Wilson (1988). Wilson disassociated from Landy in 1991 and went on to tour regularly as a solo artist from 1999 to 2022.
Heralding popular music's recognition as an art form, Wilson's accomplishments as a producer helped initiate an era of unprecedented creative autonomy for label-signed acts. The youth culture of the 1960s is commonly associated with his early songs, and he is regarded as an important figure to many music genres and movements, including the California sound, art pop, psychedelia, chamber pop, progressive music, punk, outsider, and sunshine pop. Since the 1980s, his influence has extended to styles such as post-punk, indie rock, emo, dream pop, Shibuya-kei, and chillwave. Wilson's accolades include numerous industry awards, inductions into multiple music halls of fame, and entries on several "greatest of all time" critics' rankings. His life was dramatized in the 2014 biopic Love & Mercy.
1942–1961: Background and musical training[edit]
Childhood[edit]
Brian Douglas Wilson was born on June 20, 1942, at Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, California, the first child of Audree Neva (née Korthof) and Murry Wilson, a machinist who later pursued songwriting part-time.[2][3] His ancestry includes Dutch, Scottish, English, German, Irish, and Swedish origins.[4][5] Wilson's two younger brothers, Dennis and Carl, were born in 1944 and 1946.[6] Shortly after Dennis' birth, the family moved from Inglewood to 3701 West 119th Street in nearby Hawthorne, California.[7][6] Wilson, along with his siblings, suffered psychological and sporadic physical maltreatment from their father.[8] His 2016 memoir characterizes his father as "violent" and "cruel"; however, it also suggests that certain narratives about the mistreatment had been overstated or unfounded.[9]
From an early age, Wilson exhibited an unusually high aptitude for learning by ear.[10] His father remembered how, after hearing only a few verses of "When the Caissons Go Rolling Along", the infant Wilson was able to reproduce its melody.[11][nb 1] Murry was a driving force in cultivating his children's musical talents.[13] Wilson undertook six weeks of accordion lessons, and by ages seven and eight, he performed choir solos at church.[14][nb 2] His choir director declared him to have perfect pitch.[15][12] When Wilson was 12 years old, his family acquired an upright piano, and he then shifted his focus from accordion. He began teaching himself to play piano by spending hours mastering his favorite songs.[16] He learned how to write manuscript music through a friend of his father.[17]
1975–1982: "Brian's Back!"[edit]
15 Big Ones, Love You, and Adult/Child[edit]
Wilson's overconsumption of food, cigarettes, alcohol, and other drugs — which now sometimes included heroin — further strained his marriage to Marilyn, who responded by threatening her husband with divorce or committing him to a mental institution.[236] By then, Wilson's weight had ballooned to 240 pounds (110 kg).[262][263][nb 20] To help reverse his physical decline, in 1975, band manager Stephen Love appointed his brother Stan, a basketball player, as Wilson's bodyguard, trainer, and caretaker.[264][265][nb 21] Marilyn also called in the band's lawyers and accountants to remind her husband that, pursuant to the terms of his contract with Warner Bros., he was legally obliged to write and produce for the Beach Boys or else he would be sued by the label and lose his home.[264][nb 22] Stan was successful in improving Wilson's health but after several months, went back to working with the NBA.[264] Wilson then volunteered into psychologist Eugene Landy's radical 24-hour therapy program in October.[267][268]
1982–1991: Second Landy intervention[edit]
Recovery and the Wilson Project[edit]
In 1982, after Wilson overdosed on a combination of alcohol, cocaine, and other psychoactive drugs,[323] his family and management successfully coordinated an elaborate ruse to convince him to volunteer back into Landy's program.[324][325] When approached by the band, Landy had agreed to treat Wilson again, but only if he was to be given total control over Wilson's affairs without interference from anyone.[325] Additionally, Landy promised that he would need no more than two years to rehabilitate Wilson.[326] On November 5, Wilson was falsely told by the group that he was penniless and no longer a member of the Beach Boys, and if he wanted to continue receiving his share of income from the touring band's earnings, he had to reenlist Landy as his caretaker.[324]
2020s: At My Piano, UMPG sale, and dementia[edit]
Around this time, Wilson had two back surgeries that left him unable to traverse without a walker.[441] In 2019, Wilson postponed some concert dates due to worsening mental health. His social media conveyed that he was grappling with unfamiliar internal struggles and occasionally speaking without intent, with the reason still uncertain.[442] The next month, his social media declared that he had recovered and would resume touring.[443]
Wilson was still performing concerts at the time the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in early 2020.[444] He resumed his concert touring in August 2021, with many dates rescheduled to the next year.[445] Two releases followed in November. The first, At My Piano, was issued by Decca and consists of new instrumental rerecordings of Wilson's songs played by himself on piano.[446] The second was the soundtrack to Long Promised Road, which includes new and previously unreleased recordings by Wilson.[447]
At the end of 2021, Wilson sold his publishing rights to Universal Music Publishing Group for $50 million. Wilson was paid almost $32 million for his songwriter share plus $19 million for his reversion rights (his ability to reclaim his song rights within a time period after signing them away under the Copyright Act of 1976).[448] In 2022, his ex-wife Marilyn, who had been awarded half of his songwriting royalties, sued Wilson for $6.7 million after he sold his rights to UMPG.[448]
On July 26, 2022, Wilson played his final concert as part of a joint tour with Chicago at the Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan, where he was reported to have "sat rigid and expressionless" throughout the performance.[449] Days later, he cancelled his remaining tour dates for that year, with his management citing "unforeseen health reasons" as the reason.[450] During a January 2023 appearance on a Beach Boys fan podcast, Wilson's daughter Carnie reported that her father was "probably not going to tour anymore, which is heartbreaking".[451]
On January 30, 2024, Melinda Ledbetter died at their home.[452] The following month, it was announced that Wilson had dementia and entered into another conservatorship.[453]
Cows in the Pasture, the unfinished album Wilson had produced for Fred Vail in 1970, will be completed by Vail in 2024. Wilson is the executive producer and contributed new vocals to one of the tracks. The album's release in 2025 will be accompanied by a docuseries about Vail and the album's making.[454]
Mental health[edit]
Onset of illness[edit]
Wilson is diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder.[593] Since 1965, he has regularly experienced auditory hallucinations that present in the form of disembodied voices.[594] These hallucinations are mainly derogatory, but sometimes positive,[595][353] and have occasionally inspired songs.[552] Wilson referred to the voices as "heroes and villains" that have caused "a life of scare".[596]
Gaines, in his 1986 biography of the Beach Boys, highlighted the challenge faced by Wilson's family and associates in discerning genuine mental health issues from potential manipulative behavior on Wilson's part.[597] Wilson's 1991 memoir suggests that his Houston flight incident from December 1964 made him realize that he could control others through displays of "craziness".[598][nb 45] Subsequent to that incident, Marilyn arranged his first psychiatrist visit, where it was ruled that Wilson's condition was due to work-related fatigue.[600] Wilson typically refused counseling, and his family believed his idiosyncrasies stemmed from drug habits or were simply innate to his personality.[601][602][nb 46] Marilyn countered accusations of neglect on her part, emphasizing her repeated efforts to get him professional help and pointing out his capability to mislead medical professionals.[604]
According to Wilson, he had been introduced to recreational drugs by an acquaintance during a Beach Boys tour.[184][nb 47] His hallucinations emerged early in 1965, about a week after his first time using psychedelics.[606][nb 48] Loren Schwartz, his supplier, said that Wilson's first dosage was 125 micrograms of "pure Owsley" and resulted in "full-on ego death".[608][nb 49] Mike Love observed signs of irregular behavior in Wilson by July, recalling an incident where Wilson deliberately crashed his car into a 7-Up machine at a gas station, an act Love deemed out of character.[610] His drug use was initially concealed from his bandmates and family,[611] including Love, who had thought Wilson to be strictly opposed to drugs.[605]
Personal life[edit]
Deafness in right ear[edit]
At age 11, during a Christmas choir recital, it was found that Wilson had significantly diminished hearing in his right ear.[587] The issue was diagnosed as a nerve impingement by a family doctor.[624] The exact cause remains unclear, but possible causes include a birth defect, an injury from his father, Murry, or another child.[624][625][19]
It is improbable that Wilson was born partially deaf as such defects generally manifest earlier.[587] Wilson himself believed the deafness might have resulted from his father slapping him shortly before turning three.[624] Timothy White states that Wilson seldom discussed the matter with Murry, particularly after the father had "reacted so menacingly" once when Wilson had broached the subject.[624] Wilson said of his father in a 2000 interview, "I was born deaf [...] He hit me with a 2×4, but I was already deaf by that time."[626]
Murry speculated, "He was injured in some football game or some injury of some kind. Or it just happened, who knows?"[587] Wilson's mother, Audree, said that Wilson believed the incident occurred when he was around 10 and a child hit his ear,[587] a claim repeated in his 2016 memoir.[627] On another occasion, Audree attributed it to Murry hitting Wilson with an iron while he was asleep.[628]
Due to this infirmity, Wilson developed a habit of speaking from the side of his mouth,[629][627] giving the false impression that he had suffered a stroke.[627] He also experiences tinnitus that worsens when he is fatigued or exposed to loud noises.[630] In the late 1960s, he underwent corrective surgery that was unsuccessful in restoring his hearing.[631]
Relationships and children[edit]
Wilson's first serious relationship was with Judy Bowles, a high school student he had met at a baseball game in mid-1961.[632] The couple were engaged during Christmas 1963 and were to be married the following December.[633] She inspired his songs "Judy" (1962), "Surfer Girl" (1963), and, according to some accounts, "The Warmth of the Sun" (1964), the latter being written shortly after they had separated.[634] Around then, he had gradually become romantically involved with another high school student, singer Marilyn Rovell, whom he had met in August 1962.[635][87] Wilson's "All Summer Long" (1964) referenced their first meeting with the lyric "Remember when you spilled Coke all over your blouse?"[636][nb 52] Inspired by a remark from Marilyn's older sister Diane, Wilson wrote "Don't Hurt My Little Sister" (1965) about his early relationship with Marilyn.[637][638]
Books
Journals
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