The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys is the main creative force behind some of the most iconic recordings in rock history.

With his innovative approaches to song composition and mastery of recording techniques, Brian influenced generations of musicians and is hailed as one of the best popular composers of the last century.

His journey began in June, 1942. He was raised in a modest Hawthorne, California home that was filled with music. Both parents played the piano; his father said that even as a baby Brian could repeat melodies. As a young “boy soprano,” Brian’s vocal gift was immediately evident and he sang solos with the church choir.

Brian taught his younger brothers Dennis and Carl to sing harmonies. They loved it so much, the Wilson boys practiced in their room while they were supposed to be sleeping! Those years of practice came in handy when the brothers, along with their cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine, joined together to form the Beach Boys.

As a teen in the 1950s, Brian became obsessed with the harmonic blend of groups like the Four Freshmen. Then, in the early 1960s he was inspired to combine multi-part vocal harmony with the rock rhythms of Chuck Berry…Brian Wilson had found his own unique musical style.

After high school he enrolled in college to major in psychology, but continued to study music. Brian was barely out of his teens when he started creating the Beach Boys’ early hit records—nine consecutive “gold” albums that featured such classics as Surfer Girl, In My Room, I Get Around, Don’t Worry Baby, Fun-Fun-Fun, Help Me Rhonda and California Girls, to name a handful of the more than two dozen Top 40 hits he co-wrote, arranged, produced and performed with his family band. The Beach Boys’ music would take the country by storm, creating a utopian fantasy of the California surfing lifestyle.

The catchy, upbeat odes to fun in the California sun led the group to international stardom. By 1966, the band had amassed a slew of hit records and millions of fervent fans around the world.

But the golden veneer was beginning to crack.

In 1966, Brian decided to stop touring with the group, preferring to stay in the studio and experiment with a new sound. That year, at age 23, Brian created what many believe to be one of the most innovative and influential musical albums of all time: Pet Sounds.

Pet Sounds was the first of three projects Brian produced during that landmark year. It featured four hit singles: Wouldn’t It Be Nice, God Only Knows, Caroline No and Sloop John B.

His second studio masterpiece that year was Good Vibrations. Released nearly 50 years ago, it became the Beach Boys’ first million-selling worldwide No. 1 hit. Because of the groundbreaking studio techniques used in its creation, Good Vibrations was recognized as a milestone in recording history.

After the release of Good Vibrations, when the Beach Boys arrived in London for a fall tour that year they were mobbed with a mania worthy of England’s most famous musical export—the Beatles.

Good Vibrations was so unique and such a leap of recording, Leonard Bernstein featured Brian on a CBS special about the musical revolution that Brian was leading. Everybody in the industry was asking “What is he going to do next?”

The answer would take shape with collaborator Van Dyke Parks in an album called Smile which included Surf’s Up, Wonderful and Cabin Essence. They nearly finished the album in 1966 and those who heard the “work in progress” were hailing it as the cutting edge of a new sound, both ahead of its time and timeless. Smile quickly became one of the most anticipated works of the rock era. Even the Beatles were watching and waiting to hear how Brian would follow-up Good Vibrations. The Beatles’ producer, Sir George Martin, regretfully noted, “We waited in vain.”

During the next 37 years, Smile became the most famous, unfinished, unreleased album ever made. Brian was nearly done with the album when a combination of circumstances— personal difficulties, record industry pressure, technical challenges and fractures within the group—forced him to shelve it.

Smile wasn’t released until 2004.

1966 was a pivotal year in more ways than one.

Musically, Brian was on an all-time high but his life was falling apart. He suffered a mental breakdown that sidelined him for decades.

Throughout the next 20 years, music took a back seat as Brian struggled to survive personal demons that included mental illness and drug addiction.

The Beach Boys continued to perform, but without Brian.

For several years in the 1970s and 80s, Brian was treated by controversial therapist Dr. Eugene Landy. A specialist in working with troubled celebrities, Landy employed a team of minders to watch over the musician 24-hours a day. Landy’s treatments included vigorous exercise, healthy eating and pharmaceuticals. Brian’s mental and physical health stabilized, but ultimately the doctor was fired when his methods became far too intrusive and controlling, derailing any progress Brian had made.

Brian, children and grandchildren at a Father’s Day gathering

Despite everything, Brian began to find a way out of his difficulties. He met former model and Cadillac saleswoman Melinda Ledbetter. After a long on-and-off courtship, the couple married in 1995. Brian calls Linda his soul mate; with her, he finally found what he called “emotional security.”

And he found the confidence to return to music full time.

On February 20, 2004, a live performance of the newly completed version of Smile and earlier Beach Boy hits were performed at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Brian received a lengthy standing ovation that night, and Smile earned him his first Grammy Award.

Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Brian was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and, in 2007, the Kennedy Center Honors committee recognized him for a lifetime of contributions to American culture through the performing arts in music.

Brian has seven children, two daughters from his first marriage: Carnie Wilson and Wendy Wilson of the successful musical group Wilson Phillips. Brian and Melinda adopted five children.

Love & Mercy

(left) Brian Wilson and the cast of 'Love & Mercy' which opened nationwide in June, 2015; (right) Paul Dano as Brian Wilson in 'Love & Mercy' - photos by Francois Duhamel

Love & Mercy, a feature film based on Brian Wilson’s life, opened nationwide last month.

From ‘Love & Mercy’ production notes:

The film is an unconventional portrait of two distinct periods of Brian’s life. Set against Wilson’s groundbreaking, era-defining music, the film examines the personal voyage and ultimate salvation of a cultural icon whose success came at extraordinary personal cost.

Made with the full cooperation of the musician and his wife, Love & Mercy offers a glimpse of Wilson, the boy genius who co-wrote such ebullient pop hits as Surfer Girl and Fun, Fun, Fun and the game-changing masterpieces Good Vibrations and God Only Knows before disappearing from the public eye for years.

Actors Paul Dano and John Cusack share the role of the troubled musical virtuoso who defined the California sound with sumptuous harmonies and visions of endless summers of surf and sand. Spanning more than three decades of Wilson’s life, the film reveals the darker and more complex story that lies beneath the music’s sun-kissed surface, including Wilson’s battle with mental illness and drug abuse, his years under the influence of therapist Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti) and his redemptive relationship with Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks), all in the context of his unparalleled musicianship.

Director Bill Pohlad said he doesn’t like traditional biopics, and he took an unconventional approach. “The film tries to get deep inside Brian and examine what drove him,” says Pohlad. “Over the years, I have been drawn more and more to the brilliance of Brian’s music, especially Pet Sounds, but even more than the music, it was his struggles and what he’s been through that attracted me to this project.”

Brian Wilson appreciated Pohlad’s meticulous approach to portraying key moments of his musical and personal life. “Bill paid so much attention to the details and made everything perfect,” he says. “My favorite scenes in the movie are the ones set in the studio where I’m producing the record. It brought back so many wonderful memories of working with great musicians like Hal Blaine and the Wrecking Crew.”

Pohlad pinpointed two seminal moments in Wilson’s personal and creative lives that he wanted to use to frame the story. “Pet Sounds is a monumental artistic achievement,” he explains. “For Brian personally, it is the point at which he begins to break away from surf music and tries to do something different. He is hearing complex harmonies in his head that no one else can understand until he records them.

The dark side of that is he can’t turn them off. I was also fascinated by the idea that Melinda randomly meets an odd, troubled individual,” the director continues. “She has no idea who he is, but he has a charm that stays with her. He turns out to be Brian Wilson and that day changes both of their lives forever. Those two events anchored our two main story lines.”

“When I learned that the film was going to be made, my first thought was, who is going play me?” Wilson recalls. “I have to admit it worried me a little, but Paul Dano and John Cusack were both absolutely brilliantly choices and Bill’s idea to use two actors was genius. It was really bold, but I think it was the only way to make this work.”

Brian Wilson contributed an original song to the film, One Kind of Love. Featuring Wilson’s trademark soulful harmonies, the song is an ode to the woman who changed his life. “It’s about Melinda and me,” he says. “She is my one love and the song is about the way we fell in love and the way we are in love. Love is timeless in the same way great music is timeless.”

On Sunday, July 12 at 8pm, music legend and Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson will perform songs from his new album as well as top hits and fan favorites spanning his 50-year career with The Beach Boys and as a solo artist. Rodriguez, star of the Oscar-winning documentary ‘Searching for Sugarman’, will open the concerts. The concert takes place at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall.