56 h. ago Brian Wilson 'became detached' after battling Long Covid says Beach Boys band pal

Bandmate Al Jardine says legend Brian started to go down hill three years ago and suffered mobility issues after undergoing several ops on his back – which affected his mental health

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56 h. ago ‘I yearned to be a California Girl – but I lived in Burnley’: readers on their love for Brian Wilson

From memories of photoshoots and telephone calls with the late Beach Boy, to appraisals of his complex but pure music, Guardian readers pay tribute to a greatWhether wistful or euphoric, Brian Wilson made pop’s most overwhelmingly beautiful musicRay Davies, Graham Nash and others on Brian Wilson’s songwriting geniusEndless summer: how Brian Wilson soundtracked CaliforniaI remember the Christmas after my mother’s death in 1989 when I was 15, I purchased the best-of collection from Asda, interested to see what I would hear. It had the hits, of course, but also a few of the deeper cuts from Pet Sounds and onwards. To say this changed my life is an understatement – Brian’s music, harmonies and subject matters struck an incredible chord in me. It did exactly what he existed for, bringing comfort to a heart and soul that needs it. I’ve been a fan ever since – I saw him at the Royal Festival Hall on his first Pet Sounds tour, watched him perform Smile in utter disbelief and wonder in Liver...

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2 d. ago Living Colour opens 2025 Songwriters Hall of Fame to honor new inductee George Clinton

The funk rock group Living Colour opened an energetic 2025 Songwriters Hall of Fame Thursday night to honor new inductee George Clinton

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2 d. ago Mike Love and John Stamos pay tribute to Beach Boys' Brian Wilson

Mike Love is looking back fondly on Brian Wilson, his cousin and Beach Boys collaborator who died Wednesday at 82

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3 d. ago Brian Wilson death: Paul McCartney, Keith Richards and John Cusack lead tributes to Beach Boys star

Bob Dylan and Wilson’s longtime Beach Boys bandmate Al Jardine also paid their respects

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3 d. ago Beach Boys genius Brian Wilson hailed as a 'true giant' by music legends

Beatles star Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John and Bob Dylan were among the famous faces paying tribute to Beach Boys frontman Brian Wilson following his death at the age of 82

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3 d. ago ‘He taught the world how to smile’: Brian Wilson bandmates pay tribute along with Bob Dylan, Elton John and more

Beach Boys members Al Jardine and Mike Love give lengthy tributes to late songwriter, with Jardine calling him a ‘humble musical giant’• Brian Wilson: a life in pictures• Twelve of Brian Wilson’s greatest songsFollowing his death aged 82, Brian Wilson’s Beach Boys bandmates have been among those paying tribute to one of the great figures in American popular music.Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme, Al Jardine described Wilson as “a real gentleman, a real musical intellect, who taught the world how to smile.” Continue reading...

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3 d. ago Elton John hails Brian Wilson as the 'biggest influence on my songwriting ever' as tributes to Beach Boys genius pour in

Posting on Instagram, Sir Elton said Wilson was ‘always so kind to me’ and ‘the biggest influence on my songwriting ever’

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3 d. ago Beach Boys' Brian Wilson's torture at the hands of his rotten father and the deep turmoil before his death

'It was hard to feel happy and light when there were sad things in my head,' Wilson wrote in his 2016 autobiography I Am Brian Wilson. 'It was hard to feel free when I was tied down.

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4 d. ago Whether wistful or euphoric, Brian Wilson made pop’s most overwhelmingly beautiful music

He was the Beach Boys’ resident genius, seeping melancholy into even peppy teenybopper hits. Beyond all the myths about his life, that brilliance is still intoxicatingBrian Wilson, visionary creative spirit for the Beach Boys, dies aged 82Brian Wilson: a life in picturesIt’s fair to say that no one who bought the Beach Boys debut single in 1961 would have realised they were in the presence of genius. Surfin’ sounded exactly like what it was: one of dozens of cheap, hastily-recorded singles released on a tiny independent label to cash in on the burgeoning craze for surf music, albeit a regionally-successful example of type. You might easily have expected to never hear of the band who made it again.But the 19-year-old Brian Wilson was determined – he was the taskmaster that had relentlessly drilled his unwilling younger brothers Carl and Dennis into learning to harmonise – and a quick learner. The leap in quality between Surfin’ and its 1962 follow-up Surfin’ Safari was striking. The ...

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4 d. ago Brian Wilson: Beach Boys star who surfed the waves to success

The band shaped 1960s American pop with hits such as Surfin’ USA, I Get Around and California Girls.

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4 d. ago Brian Wilson: the Beach Boys visionary who changed music forever

The troubled musician was a genius whose work was the envy of generations of fellow artists. Fiona Sturges pays tribute, and recalls her encounter with Wilson where he told her about his fear of failure, his abusive father, and the voices in his head

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4 d. ago 10 songs to celebrate the life and legacy of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson

The musical world has lost a giant

Culture

4 d. ago Beach Boys' Brian Wilson's relationship with 'stern' psychotherapist who was once in will

The story of Brian Wilson and Eugene Landy inspired a Hollywood movie – with Wilson opening up about the affects of the manipulation before his death after a battle with a neurocognative disorder

Science

4 d. ago Rolling Stones members pay tribute following death of Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson

Keith Richard and Ronnie Wood are among the stars who have praised the singer, bass player, songwriter and producer after his death at 82.

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4 d. ago AP PHOTOS: Beach Boys visionary leader and summer's poet laureate Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys’ visionary and fragile leader whose genius for melody, arrangements and wide-eyed self-expression inspired “Good Vibrations,” “California Girls” and other summertime anthems and made him one of the world’s most influential recording artists, has died at 82.

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4 d. ago Brian Wilson death: Keith Richards, Nancy Sinatra and John Cusack lead tributes to Beach Boys star

Tributes are pouring in for the pioneering musician

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4 d. ago Beach Boy Brian Wilson wrote 'greatest song of all time' but battled demons

The Beach Boys singer Brian Wilson has died at the age of 82 - Wilson was the eldest and last surviving of the three musical brothers who formed the American rock band in 1961

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4 d. ago Brian Wilson death: John Cusack and Ronnie Wood lead tributes to Beach Boys star

Tributes are pouring in for the pioneering musician

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4 d. ago The Beach Boys Brian Wilson's dark drug past – from 'dangerous substance' to dire warning

The Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson, who sadly died on 11 June, previously battled mental health issues along with drug and alcohol abuse and once issued a clear warning to his fans

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