Death of Brian Wilson, co-founder of the Beach Boys, after years of battling dementia
Brian Wilson, co-founder of the Beach Boys, has died at the age of 82 on Wednesday, June 12, 2025, in the United States after years of battling dementia.
Brian Wilson, co-founder of the Beach Boys, has died at the age of 82 on Wednesday, June 12, 2025, in the United States after years of battling dementia.
Brian Wilson, the sound architect of the Beach Boys and creator of the unforgettable Pet Sounds, has died at 82. The news, announced by his family in a simple statement, moved music lovers around the world. “We are at a loss for words. Please respect our privacy. We know we share our grief with the entire world.”, the statement informs.
Born to embody the Californian lightness of surf, sun, and tanned girls, Wilson transcended the limits of commercial pop, reinventing it as a demanding and emotional art form.
From Surfin’ USA to Good Vibrations
Between 1962 and 1966, Brian Wilson composed more than 200 songs that would make the Beach Boys the best-selling American band in the world. From Surfer Girl to Fun, Fun, Fun, his surf melodies are anthems to a carefree America.
But it was with Pet Sounds (1966) that he broke the mold: an album with unprecedented orchestral complexity, praised by Paul McCartney as “the most beautiful work ever produced in pop music.”
The same year, he created Good Vibrations, a psychedelic mini-symphony that sold a million copies. His ambition: to make music a total sensory and emotional language.
The Fall: Depression, Drugs, Madness… and Resilience
Behind the sunny smile lay a descent into hell. Plagued by depression, schizophrenia, amphetamine, and LSD dependency, Brian Wilson lost his footing in 1967 while working on the mythical project Smile, a work deemed unplayable by his contemporaries.
Hospitalized several times, isolated from the world for years, Wilson began a slow comeback in the 1980s, finally completing Smile… forty years later, in 2004. A feat celebrated by critics worldwide.
A Life Between Solitude, Genius, and Rebirth
Even weakened by dementia and placed under guardianship in 2024, Brian Wilson never stopped inspiring. His vocal harmonies, obsession with the perfect sound, refusal of standards influenced generations of musicians, from the Beatles to Radiohead.
His death marks the end of an era where pop music still believed in its dreams.
With Brian Wilson, one of the greatest composers of the 20th century is gone. But his works, from Wouldn’t It Be Nice to God Only Knows, continue to resonate in the hearts of millions of fans.
Music mourns its cursed poet. And California loses the man who captured its soul, in all its light… and melancholy.
