Founding Leader Of The Beach Boys Has Died

Founding Beach Boys singer, songwriter and creative mastermind Brian Wilson has died. He was 82.

“We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away. We are at a loss for words right now,” read a post on Wilson’s Facebook page. “Please respect our privacy at this time as our family is grieving. We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world,” with the post signed, “Love & Mercy.”

One of the most significant figures in pop music’s acceptance as an art form, Wilson wrote the music to nearly all of his famous band’s best-known songs, from their early surf-rock classics to their more complex recordings of the mid-1960s and beyond. Wilson’s catalog includes the timeless hits “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” “Surfer Girl,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “I Get Around,” “Help Me, Rhonda” and “California Girls.”

With his gift for vocal harmonies and musical arrangements, Wilson helped craft one of the most celebrated albums of all time, The Beach Boys’ 1966 release Pet Sounds, as well as its follow-up single, “Good Vibrations.” Paul McCartney has said that Pet Sounds was a huge influence on The Beatles‘ 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.