The Beach Boys co-founder and singer Brian Wilson has died. His family announced his passing on June 11, 2025, though they did not disclose how he died. Wilson was 82 years old.

Wilson was The Beach Boys’ songwriter, co-lead vocalist, bass player, and keyboardist. As a co-founder of the band, he helped to establish the California beach sound.

Born in Inglewood, California on June 20, 1942, Wilson displayed musical skills from a young age. During childhood, he sang in the church choir, taught himself to play instruments, and began writing his own songs. When Wilson was 19, he and his brothers Carl and Dennis, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine formed the Beach Boys.

By 1962 they released their first two albums, Surfin’ Safari and Surfin’ U.S.A., both of which were hits and pioneered the California sound. They cranked out many hit songs like “California Girls,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Don’t Worry Baby,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “I Get Around,” and “Help Me, Rhonda.” Following a few more successful albums, Wilson expanded their sound with more mature efforts in the album Pet Sounds and the single “Good Vibrations.”

Wilson started battling depression due to deafness in his right ear, the pressure of their constant touring schedule, and his father’s death in 1973. Following a break from the spotlight, the band released The Beach Boys Love You in ’76. The comeback was short-lived, and Wilson fell into a deeper depression and struggled with substance abuse.

After a reclusive period, he got help for addiction and his mental health. In the mid-1990s, Wilson made a comeback by recording new music and performing on stage again. One of his standouts was 2004’s Brian Wilson Presents Smile, a previously incomplete Beach Boys record. In 2012, the Beach Boys embarked on a 50th anniversary tour, released That’s Why God Made the Radio, and they performed on the Grammy Awards.

Wilson was nominated for nine Grammy Awards, mostly for early Beach Boys work, and he won two Grammys for his later solo work. The Beach Boys were inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and they were given the Kennedy Center Honors in 2007.