American musician Brian Wilson, co-founder of the Beach Boys, passes away at 82

Brian Wilson the Beach Boys cofounder who masterminded the groups wild popularity and soundtracked the California Dream has died his family announced Wednesday He was 82The statement on Instagram did not give a cause Wilson was placed under a legal conservatorship last year due to a major neurocognitive disorderWe are at a loss for words right now said his family We realize that we are sharing our grief with the worldThe pop visionary crafted hits whose success rivaled The Beatles throughout the 1960s a seemingly inexhaustible string of feelgood tracks including Surfin USA I Get Around Fun Fun Fun and Surfer Girl that made the Beach Boys into Americas biggest selling bandWilson didnt surf but his prodigious pen and genius ear allowed him to fashion the boundarypushing soundscape of beachside paradiseHis lush productions were revered among his peers with even Bob Dylan once telling Newsweek That ear I mean Jesus hes got to will that to the SmithsonianDylan also paid tribute to Wilson on Wednesday posting on X about all the years Ive been listening to him and admiring his genius Rest in peace dear BrianAfter five years of extraordinary songwriting in which he produced 200 odes to sun surfing and suntanned girls Wilson sank into a deep drugfueled depression for decadesHe would emerge 35 years later to complete the Beach Boys unfinished album Smile widely regarded as his masterpieceSurfin USAJohn 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 who reduced him to tears with one song from the album God Only Knows which Wilson wrote in 45 minutesIts melancholic depths hinted at Wilsons own painful secretBorn on June 20 1942 in a Los Angeles suburb Wilson found music as a haven of safety and joy after an upbringing in which he suffered abuse from his domineering father who would go on to manage the groupMusic was his protection and The Beach Boys was a family affair he formed the band with his two brothers Dennis and Carl his cousin Mike Love and neighbor Al JardineWilson did all the songwriting arranging and sang and played bass guitar his bandmates just had to sing in harmonyTheir first song Surfin in 1961 was a loose prototype for the unique sound that would become their signature a fusion of the rock styles of Chuck Berry and Little Richard with the preppy vocal harmonies of The Four FreshmenBy late 1962 there was hardly a teen who did not know them thanks to the eternal ode to youthful nonchalance Surfin USALost youthBut Wilson was ill at ease on stage and did not like recording studios In 1964 he had a panic attack on a plane to France after which he stopped touringHe was deaf in his right ear and his mouth sagged when he sang the result of the many beatings he received from his fatherIt was tough My dad was quite the slave driver Wilson told Rolling Stone magazine in 2018He made us mow the lawn and when we were done hed say Mow it againThe Beach Boys early songs spoke of simple joys and innocenceBut Wilsons writing became darker as he began to eulogize lost youth He channeled the group towards the more psychedelic rock central to the hippie culture taking hold in CaliforniaIn 1966 he brought out Good Vibrations a song recorded in four different studios that consumed over 90 hours of tape and included multiple keys textures moods and instrumentationsThe single topped the charts and sold one million copies in the United States but Wilson was at the brinkIn 1967 his mental health deteriorated worn down by his enormous workload and his wild consumption of drugsHe abandoned Smile planted his grand piano in a sandbox and took vast quantities of LSD and acidEventually diagnosed as schizophrenic Wilson began hearing voices and thought the famed Wall of Sound producer Phil Spector was spying on him and stealing his workThe group eventually parted waysGentlest revolutionaryThe troubled artist had long stints of rehab and relapses as well as legal issues including a lengthy eyebrowraising relationship with a controlling psychotherapist who was eventually blocked by a court order from contact with WilsonThe artist credits his marriage to former model Melinda Ledbetter as helping him to rebuild his life He revived and finished Smile releasing it in 2004His brother Dennis drowned in 1983 while Carl died of cancer in 1998Last year Wilsons family successfully pursued a legal conservatorship following the death of Melinda with his longtime manager and publicist being put in charge of his affairsWilsons seven children were consulted by the conservators regarding major health decisions as a stipulation of the agreementThe musicians many accolades included a Kennedy Center Honor in 2007 when that committee dubbed him rock and rolls gentlest revolutionaryThere is real humanity in his body of work they said vulnerable and sincere authentic and unmistakably American