Brian Wilson, the musician who co-founded the Beach Boys, has passed away, his family announced Wednesday.
“We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our beloved father, Brian Wilson,” the family wrote on Instagram and the official Wilson website. “We are at a loss for words right now. We find ourselves sharing our sadness with the world.”
Wilson’s death followed a diagnosis of dementia, and was announced last year when his wife passed away and his children moved to put him under the sanctuary.
No further details have been released regarding his death. He was 82 years old.
The Beach Boys are portrayed in London in November 1966 (AP Photo/Frank Tewkesbury) musician Brian Wilson, left, his wife Melinda Redbetter Wilson arrives at the 55th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 10th, 2013. (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, file)
Wilson is known as the visionary and vulnerable leader of the Beach Boys, whose melody, arrangements and large-eyed self-expression genius influenced “Good Vibration”, “California Girls” and other summer songs.
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Brian, the eldest son of three music brothers who played bass, Carl’s lead guitar and Dennis drums, last survived, and his fellow Beach Boys rose in the 1960s from local California bands to national hit makers, and international ambassadors of Surf and Sun. Wilson himself was celebrated with his gifts and pityed for his demons. He was one of the great Romantics of Rock, a tormented man who at his peak embarked on a fast path to hearing perfection.
The Beach Boys are one of the most popular groups of the rock era, with over 30 singles in the top 40, with global sales of over 100 million.
The 1966 album “Pet Sounds” was named No. 2 on the 2003 Rolling Stone List on the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” as Wilson previously did.
The Beach Boys, which also featured Wilson’s cousin Mike Love and childhood friend Al Jardin, was voted for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
