Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer known for being the principal songwriter, co-lead vocalist, bassist, producer, arranger, and co-founder of The Beach Boys. After signing with Capitol Records in mid-1962, Wilson wrote or co-wrote more than two dozen Top 40 hits for the group. Due to his unorthodox approaches to song composition and arrangement, and mastery of recording techniques, he is widely acknowledged as one of the most innovative and influential creative forces in popular music by critics and musicians alike. In the mid-1960s, Wilson composed and produced Pet Sounds, considered one of the greatest albums of all time. The intended follow-up to Pet Sounds, Smile, was cancelled for various reasons, which included Wilsons deteriorating mental health. As he suffered through multiple nervous breakdowns, Wilsons contributions to the Beach Boys diminished and his erratic behavior led to tensions with the band. After years of treatment and recuperation, he began performing and recording consistently as a solo artist, being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and winning Grammy Awards for Brian Wilson Presents Smile and The Smile Sessions. On the Beach Boys 50th anniversary, Wilson briefly returned to record and perform with the group. He remains a member of the Beach Boys corporation, Brother Records Incorporated. In 2008, Rolling Stone magazine published a list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time that ranked Wilson number 52. In 2012, music publication NME ranked Wilson number 8 in its 50 Greatest Producers Ever list, elaborating few consider quite how groundbreaking Brian Wilson’s studio techniques were in the mid-60s. He is an occasional actor and voice actor, having appeared in television shows, films, and other artists music videos. His life will be portrayed in the upcoming biographical film Love and Mercy. Wilson was born on June 20, 1942 at Centinela Hospital in Inglewood, California, the son of Audree Neva (née Korthof) and Murry Gage Wilson. He was the eldest of three boys; his younger brothers were Dennis and Carl. He has English, Swedish, Dutch, German, and Irish ancestry. When Wilson was two, the Wilson family moved from Inglewood to 3701 West 119th Street in nearby Hawthorne, California. Speaking of Wilsons unusual musical abilities prior to his first birthday, his father said that as a baby he could repeat the melody from When the Caissons Go Rolling Along after only a few verses had been sung by the father. Murry Wilson said, He was very clever and quick. I just fell in love with him. At about age two, Wilson heard George Gershwins Rhapsody in Blue, which had an enormous emotional impact on him. A few years later he was discovered to have extremely diminished hearing in his right ear. The exact cause of this hearing loss is unclear, though theories range from him simply being born partially deaf, to a blow to the head from his father, or a neighborhood bully, being to blame. While Wilsons father was ostensibly a reasonable provider, he was often abusive. A minor musician and songwriter, he also encouraged his children in this field in numerous ways. At an early age, Wilson was given six weeks of lessons on a toy accordion, and at seven and eight sang solos in church with a choir behind him. Wilson was on the football team as a quarterback, played baseball and was a cross-country runner in his senior year. He sang with various students at school functions and with his family and friends at home. He taught his two brothers harmony parts that all three would then practice when they were supposed to be asleep. He also played piano obsessively after school, deconstructing the harmonies of The Four Freshmen by listening to short segments of their songs on a phonograph, then working to recreate the blended sounds note by note on the keyboard. He received a Wollensak tape recorder on his 16th birthday, allowing him to experiment with recording songs and early group vocals Wilsons surviving home tapes document his initial efforts singing with various friends and family, including a song the Beach Boys later recorded in the studio, Sloop John B—and Bermuda Shorts and a hymn titled Good News. In his senior year at Hawthorne High, in addition to classroom music studies, he sang at lunch time with friends like Keith Lent and Bruce Griffin. Wilson and Lent worked on a revised version of the tune Hully Gully to support the campaign of a classmate named Carol Hess when she ran for senior class president. Enlisting his cousin and frequent singing partner Mike Love and Wilsons youngest brother Carl Wilson, his next public performance featured more ambitious arrangements at a fall arts program at his high school. To entice Carl into the group, Wilson named the newly formed membership Carl and the Passions. The performance featured tunes by Dion and the Belmonts and The Four Freshmen (Its a Blue World), the latter of which proved difficult for the ensemble. However, the event was notable for the impression it made on another musician and classmate of Wilson in the audience that night, Al Jardine, who would join the three Wilson brothers and Mike Love in the Beach Boys. Background information Birth name Brian Douglas Wilson Born June 20, 1942 (age 72) Inglewood, California, United States Genres Rock, pop, baroque pop, surf rock, art rock, psychedelic Occupations Songwriter, musician, vocalist, producer, composer, arranger Instruments Vocals, bass guitar, piano, organ, keyboards, guitar, synthesizers, drums Years active 1961–present Labels Capitol/EMI Sire/Reprise/Warner Bros. Brother/Reprise/Warner Bros. Giant/Warner Bros. Caribou/CBS Nonesuch/Elektra Walt Disney Associated acts American Spring, Andy Paley, The Beach Boys, Don Was, Gary Usher, The Honeys, Kenny & the Cadets, Jan and Dean, Jeff Beck, Joe Thomas, Tandyn Almer, Van Dyke Parks, Wondermints, Carnie Wilson, Wendy Wilson Website brianwilson Notable instruments Fender Precision Bass Baldwin HT2R Theater Organ Moog and ARP synthesizers
Posted on: Fri, 20 Jun 2014 10:38:33 +0000
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