Brian Wilson

It was just announced that Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys has died aged 82.

He had started this band with his brothers and friends in the late 50s. I know only some of their songs. I don’t know the band well but by all accounts, he was a musical genius and the Beach Boys were big in the US. When I was reading the book, The Wrecking Crew, all the top session musicians of that era were in awe of him. His musical creativity, arrangements and song writing skills were top class. The Beach Boys were big before the Beatles were known in America.

He was so mesmerized by Be My Baby and the Phil Spector wall of sound technique that he wanted to create a masterpiece. And that album Pet Sounds, was so admired for its creativity that the Beatles modelled Sgt Pepper’s after that album.

Of course in later years drug use destroyed him and the band. They completely disappeared from the scene except for one hit Kokomo in the 80s. Such a pity.