Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys co-founder who masterminded the group's wild popularity and soundtracked the California dream, has died, his family announced on Wednesday, as reported by AFP. He was 82.
The statement on Instagram did not give a cause. Wilson was placed under a legal conservatorship last year due to a "major neurocognitive disorder."
"We are at a loss for words right now," said his family. "We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world."
The pop visionary crafted hits whose success rivaled The Beatles throughout the 1960s, a seemingly inexhaustible string of feel-good tracks including Surfin' USA, I Get Around, Fun, Fun, Fun and Surfer Girl that made the Beach Boys into America's biggest selling band.
Wilson didn't surf, but his prodigious pen and genius ear allowed him to fashion a boundary-pushing soundscape of beachside paradise.
His lush productions were revered among his peers, with even Bob Dylan once saying, "That ear – I mean, Jesus, he's got to will that to the Smithsonian!"
Dylan also paid tribute to Wilson on Wednesday, posting on X "about all the years I've been listening to him and admiring his genius. Rest in peace dear Brian."
After five years of extraordinary songwriting, in which he produced 200 odes to sun, surfing and suntanned girls, Wilson sank into a deep, drug-fuelled depression for decades.
He would emerge 35 years later to complete the Beach Boys' unfinished album, Smile – widely regarded as his masterpiece.
John Lennon said he considered Pet Sounds (1966) to be one of the best albums of all time, while Paul McCartney said Wilson was a "genius".
The musician's many accolades included a Kennedy Center Honor in 2007, when the committee dubbed him "rock and roll's gentlest revolutionary."
"There is real humanity in his body of work," they said, "vulnerable and sincere, authentic and unmistakably American."
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