Wee Court and Gar's Webpage for Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys
A Brief Biography
In the fall of 1961, in Hawthorne, California, three brothers, a cousin and a friend formed what would become the greatest American musical group of all time.
Initially, the boys called themselves the Pendletones, after a popular shirt worn by surfers at the time. However, a record company executive soon renamed them The Beach Boys.
Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson were brothers born to Murray and Audree wilson. Other members of the original band included cousin Mike Love and Brian's friend, Alan Jardine. The group started when Brian and Mike discovered their harmonizing abitlities at a family Christmas party. They soon recruited Carl into the group and were forced by Audree to allow Dennis into the group. But there was still one voice missing from the five- part harmony. Thus, Al Jardine joined the group. Brian, who was a gifted piano player, took up the bass guitar, Carl and Al played lead and rythm guitar, Dennis learned the drums and Mike filled out the harmony with his bass voice. When it became clear the band could be a sucess, Murray took on the role of manager, eventually securing a record deal with a small label called Candix.
After making their first single, "Surfin'", Al Jardine decided to leave the group and return to college. He was then replaced by the Wilson's neighbor, David Marks.
Following the release of two 45's, the Beach Boys moved to the Capitol record label. There, they released their first top 40 single, "Surfin Safari/409". Their first LP was released following the success of that single, also called "Surfin Safari".
Soon after they became a national sucess, David Marks was forced from the group by Murray. Al Jardine returned to the fold.
When Brian began to write songs, Murray decided to set up the Sea of Tunes Publishing Company which would secure the copyrights of Brian's songs. When the band grew tired of his controlling, out-of-touch ways, they had no choice but to fire him as manager. Originally, Brian was to have taken full control of the Sea of Tunes catalog. Instead, bitter and resentful, his Father tricked him, retaining control of the catalog, and eventually selling it, without Brian's consent, for a paltry $700,000, figuring that the surf music craze was over. Today, this catalog generates millions of dollars for it's owners.
By 1964, the Boys had scored a string of hits, and were playing to sell out crowds all over the world. Then, on December 23rd, an event occurred that would change the Beach Boys forever. On a flight to Texas, Brian Wilson suffered a breakdown , cracking under the pressure of touring while simultaneously producing constant hits . After this event, he came to the decison to stop touring so that he could concentrate more on writing and producing songs for the group. On stage, he was briefly replaced by Glenn Campell, then permanently replaced by the 6th Beach Boy, Bruce Johnston.
Whilst the touring Beach Boys travelled around the world, Brian spent endless weeks in the studio, taking the Spector sound to a new level, and working the studio in a way that no one had ever done before. The first release from the new studio-based Bri was the superb "Beach Boys Today!" LP. Whilst side one contained the usual fast-paced hits the Boys were famous for, side two revealed the sesnsitive side of Brian..songs like "Kiss me Baby" and "In the Back of my Mind" featuring incredible symphonic arrangements, unusual chord structures, and some incredible harmonies...Brian was out-growing the restrictions of pop music.
Which brings us on to "Pet Sounds".......
lots of new stuff soon (i think)