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Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942, in
Hawthorne, California) is an United
States|American pop music|pop musician, best known
as a founding member of and the main record
producer|producer, composer, and arranger for The
Beach Boys. Although changing fashions in music
sometimes rendered Wilson's earlier work
unfashionable, his reputation has since been
restored and he is now widely acknowledged as one
of the most significant popular music composers of
the 20th century.

Wilson showed an early talent for music and
quickly developed into a highly skilled singer,
songwriter, arranger and musician.

Early rock influences included, The Four Freshman,
Chuck Berry among others.  Brian was a great
admirer of the Phil Spector and his studio work.

Wilson was a perfectionist in the studio, and
often upset the other members of Beach Boys with
this incessant drive at perfection.


After forming The Beach Boys in the early
1960s|sixties with his brothers Carl Wilson|Carl
and Dennis Wilson|Dennis, his cousin Mike Love and
schoolfriend Al Jardine, Wilson steered the group
to huge success around the world, and they scored
a string of international hits between 1962 and
1966, including pop classics such as "Surfin'
USA", "Fun, Fun, Fun", "I Get Around", "Help Me
Rhonda", "California Girls", and "Good
Vibrations". 

Until 1967, their international success and
popularity put them on a level that put them among
the worlds biggest acts of the time, such as The
Beatles, who later cited Wilson's work as a major
influence.

Wilson's creativity reached its apex during the
mid-1960s with the Pet Sounds album (which,
according to Paul McCartney, was an inspiration
for The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club
Band), and many critics and music polls have named
it one of the greatest pop albums ever recorded. 

This was immediately followed by their biggest
chart success, the million-selling #1 hit single
"Good Vibrations", which set new standards for
pop-rock production and is still regarded as one
of the seminal pop recordings of the era. Wilson
then began work on a new album, originally called
"Dumb Angel" but soon re-titled Smile
(album)|SMiLE, on which he collaborated with
lyricist Van Dyke Parks. 

However, the combination of resistance from within
the group and Wilson's own growing personal
problems led to the cancellation of the project in
mid-1967.

Wilson also was the owner of a health food shop in
Hollywood that lasted a year from its founding in
the summer of 1969, the "Radiant Radish".

Following a breakdown Wilson descended into mental
illness and drug abuse in the late Sixties and
1970s. He partially recovered to try a career as a
solo artist in the 1980s, with limited success.
His efforts were both encouraged and hampered by
the influence of his psychologist, Dr. Eugene
Landy, and partially due to Landy's extreme
control over Brian's life, Wilson quit working
with the Beach Boys on a regular basis after the
release of The Beach Boys in 1985. Landy's illegal
use of Psychoactive drug|psychotropic drugs on
Wilson and his interference in all of his affairs
was finally legally ended by Brian's brother Carl
Wilson|Carl. 

His final release as part of the group was on the
1996 album Stars and Stripes Vol. 1, a group
collaboration with select country music artists
singing the lead vocals.

Brian released a solo album, Brian Wilson
(album)|Brian Wilson, in 1988 and a memoir,
"Wouldn't It Be Nice - My Own Story", in which he
spoke for the first time about his troubled
relationship with his abusive father Murry and his
"lost years" of mental illness. The book makes for
shocking reading, featuring some particularly
gruesome details. Understandably, the book was
taken out of press some years later. 

It is widely appreciated that although it was
written following interviews with Brian and
others, Eugene Landy was largely responsible for
the book, in conjunction with the writer Todd
Gold.

Brian married Melinda Ledbetter in 1995 and
subsequently the couple adopted two girls, Daria
and Delanie, and, in 2004, a son, Dylan. He has
two daughters, Carnie Wilson and Wendy Wilson,
from his first marriage.

After considerable mental recovery, he released a
second solo album, Imagination
(album)|Imagination, in 1998 to some appreciation.
Following this, he learned to cope with his stage
fright and started to play live for the first time
in decades, to great success, going on to play the
whole Pet Sounds album live on his tours of the
United States|USA, United Kingdom|UK and Europe.
He now tours regularly as a solo act with a large
backing band that includes the members of The
Wondermints and former Beach Boys guitarist Jeff
Foskett.

A new studio album, Gettin' In Over My Head,
featuring collaborations with Elton John, Paul
McCartney, Eric Clapton, and his deceased brother
Carl Wilson. It was released on 22 June, 2004 in
music|2004.  Eric Clapton played on the track
"City Blues."

On 28 September 2004, a re-recorded version of his
previously shelved Smile (album)|SMiLE album was
released. The album had reached mythic proportions
within Beach Boys fandom, and the 1966/1967
sessions had been heavily bootlegged. The 2004
recording featured his touring band which consists
of former Beach Boys guitarist Jeff Foskett and
members of The Wondermints on vocals and
instruments, and is classed as a Brian Wilson solo
album. Notably, the song "Good Vibrations"
featured Tony Asher's original lyrics rather than
Mike Love's revised lyrics from the 1966 single
version of the song. The album was both a critical
and a financial success.

Wilson won a Grammy award for best rock
instrumental for the "SMiLE" track "Mrs. O'Leary's
Cow (Fire)." He released a two-DVD "Smile" set,
consisting of a documentary and a live
presentation of the work. He planned a tour for
the second half of 2005, as well as a Christmas
album for Arista Records, called What I Really
Want For Christmas.

Though no longer a part of The Beach Boys touring
band, Brian Wilson remains a member of the Beach
Boys Corp.

Canadian rock group Barenaked Ladies paid tribute
to the Beach Boy in their hit song "Brian Wilson,"
which makes reference to his mental illness and
Dr. Landy.  In a weird twist, Brian Wilson
actually covered this song for a live album. John
Cale had also paid tribute to Wilson in his song
"Mr. Wilson", as did Roland Orzabal in "Brian
Wilson Said" from Tears For Fears' 1994 album
"Elemental".

Recently, Brian Wilson cameoed in  Duck
Dodgers#Duck Dodgers series| Duck Dodgers in the
24½th Century as Daffy Duck's spiritual surfing
advisor.

==Discography==
*Brian_Wilson_(album)|Brian Wilson (July 1988) US
#54
*I Just Wasn't Made For These Times (August 1995)
UK #59
*Orange Crate Art (October 1995) (Brian Wilson and
Van Dyke Parks) 
*Imagination_(album)|Imagination (June 1998) US
#88; UK #30
*Live at the Roxy Theatre (June 2000)
*Pet Sounds Live (June 2002)
*Gettin' In Over My Head (June 2004) US #100; UK
#53
*Smile_(album)|SMiLE (September 2004) US #13; UK
#7
*What I Really Want For Christmas (October 2005)

== External links ==

* http://www.brianwilson.com Official site
* http://www.surfermoon.com Un-official fan site:
"Cabinessence web page for Brian Wilson"
* http://www.btinternet.com/~bellagio/ Extensive
discography & timeline