- See Brian Wilson (politician) for the Labour MP in the UK.
Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942, in Hawthorne, California) is an American pop musician, best known as a founding member of and the main producer, composer, and arranger for The Beach Boys. Although changing fashions in music rendered Wilson's earlier work unfashionable at some times, his reputation has since been fully restored and he is now widely acknowledged as one of the most significant popular music composers of the 20th century.
The self-taught Wilson showed an early talent for music and quickly developed into a highly skilled singer, songwriter, arranger and musician. After forming The Beach Boys in the early Sixties with his brothers Carl and Dennis, his cousin Mike Love and schoolfriend Al Jardine, Wilson steered the group to huge success around the world, and they scored a string international hits between 1962 and 1966, including pop classics such as "Surfing Safari", "Little Deuce Coupe", "Surfin' USA", Fun, Fun, Fun", Help Me Rhonda" and "California Girls". Until 1967 their international success and popularity rivalled that of The Beatles, who later cited Wilson's work as a major influence.
Wilson's creativity reached its greatest heights during the mid-1960s with the Pet Sounds album (which, according to Paul McCartney, heavily inspired The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band), and many critics and music polls have named it as the greatest pop album ever recorded.
This was followed by their biggest chart success, the milllion-selling #1 hit single"Good Vibrations", which set new standards for pop-rock production and is still regarded as one of the seminal pop recordings of the era. Wilson then began work on a new album, originally called "Dumb Angel" but soon re-titled SMiLE, on which he collaborated with lyricist Van Dyke Parks. However, the combination of resistance from within the group and Wilson's own growing personal problems led to the cancellation of the project in mid-1967.
Wilson also was the owner of a health food shop in Hollywood that lasted a year from its founding in the summer of 1969, the "Radiant Radish".
Following a breakdown Wilson descended into mental illness and drug abuse in the late Sixties and 1970s. He partially recovered to try a career as a solo artist in the 1980s with limited success. His efforts were both encouraged and hampered by the influence of his psychologist, Dr. Eugene Landy, and partially due to Landy's extreme control over Brian's life, Wilson quit working with the Beach Boys on a regular basis after the release of The Beach Boys in 1985. Landy's illegal use of psychotropic drugs on Wilson and his interference in all of his affairs was finally legally ended by Brian's brother Carl. His final release as part of the group was on the 1996 album Stars and Stripes, a group collaboration with select country music artists singing the lead vocals.
Brian released a solo album, Brian Wilson , in 1988 and a memoir, "Wouldn't It Be Nice", in which he spoke for the first time about his troubled relationship with his abusive father Murry and his "lost years". However it should be noted the book was written while Wilson was still under Landy's control
Brian married Melinda Ledbetter in 1995 and subsequently the couple adopted two girls, Daria and Delanie, and, in 2004, a son, Dylan. He has two daughters, Carnie Wilson and Wendy Wilson, from his first marriage.
After considerable mental recovery, he released a second solo album, Imagination, in 1998 to widespread appreciation. Following this, he defeated his stage fright and started to play live for the first time in decades, to great success, going on to play the whole Pet Sounds album live on his tours of the USA, UK and Europe, and he now tours regularly as a solo act with a large backing band that includes the members of The Wondermints.
A new studio album, Getting In Over My Head, featuring collaborations with Elton John, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, and his deceased brother Carl Wilson. It was released on 22 June, 2004 [1]. Eric Clapton played on the track "City Blues."
History was made on 28 September 2004 when a re-recorded version of his previously shelved SMiLE was released. This album had reached mythic proportions within Beach Boys fandom, and the 1966/1967 sessions had been heavily bootlegged. The 2004 recording featured his touring band on vocals and instruments, and is classed as a Brian Wilson solo album. Notably, the song "Good Vibrations" featured Tony Asher 's original lyrics rather than Mike Love's revised lyrics from the 1966 single version of the song.
Canadian rock group Barenaked Ladies paid tribute to the Beach Boy in their hit song "Brian Wilson," which makes reference to his mental illness and Dr. Landy. In a weird twist, Brian Wilson actually covered this song for a live album. John Cale had also paid tribute to Wilson in his song "Mr. Wilson", as did Roland Orzabal in "Brian Wilson Said" from Tears For Fears' 1994 album "Elemental".
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