The Beach Boys and Mike Love have paid tribute to their former bandmate Brian Wilson, who passed away at age 82.
A post on The Beach Boys’ social media accounts shares that the band is “heartbroken” by Wilson’s passing, calling him, “our cousin, our friend, and our partner in a great musical adventure.”
“Brian Wilson wasn’t just the heart of The Beach Boys—he was the soul of our sound. The melodies he dreamed up and the emotions he poured into every note changed the course of music forever,” they write. “His unparalleled talent and unique spirit created the soundtrack of so many lives around the globe, including our own.”
Meanwhile The Beach Boys’ Mike Love shared his own tribute, writing, “today, the world lost a genius … Brian Wilson wasn’t just the heart of The Beach Boys—he was the soul of our sound.”
“His musical gifts were unmatched. The melodies he dreamed up, the emotions he poured into every note—Brian changed the course of music forever,” he shares. “Our journey together was filled with moments of brilliance, heartbreak, laughter, complexity and most of all, LOVE. Like all families, we had our ups and downs. But through it all, we never stopped loving each other, and I never stopped being in awe of what he could do when he sat at a piano or his spontaneity in the studio.”
Love wrote that Wilson, “allowed us to show the world what vulnerability and brilliance sound like in harmony. He was fragile, he was intense, he was funny—and he was one of a kind.”
Finally he shares, “Thank you for the harmonies, the memories, and the love. Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, Love leaves a memory no one can steal. I’ll miss you forever, my beloved cousin.”
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