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Musician Brian Wilson, who co-founded the beloved band Beach Boys, has passed away at 82. His family announced the "heartbreaking" news in an Instagram post shared on Wednesday, June 11, 2025.
The post did not elaborate on the cause and other details surrounding Wilson's death. Expressing their grief, the family noted,
"We are at a loss for words right now. Please respect our privacy at this time as our family is grieving. We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world. Love & Mercy."
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It is worth noting that Love & Mercy is the title of a 2014 biopic based on Wilson's life, starring Paul Dano and John Cusack.
Wilson hailed from Southern California. He formed a band, Carl and the Passions, with his brothers while in high school. The group would later become the Beach Boys. Brian is regarded as one of the most innovative and significant songwriters of his time, with songs like Surf City, Help Me, Rhonda, and Good Vibrations to his credit.
However, throughout his career, he struggled with a series of mental health issues, including a schizoaffective disorder diagnosis.
Brian Wilson entered into a conservatorship under controversial psychiatric therapist Eugene Landy in the early 1980s following an overdose
As the Beach Boys found success, Brian Wilson began using cannabis and LSD. According to the Guardian, the musician claimed that the latter drug helped him creatively. In his book The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band, on Stage and in the Studio, author Keith Badman explained that in the mid-1960s, Wilson began feeling mentally drained.
While talking to Badman for the book, Wilson attributed the intense workload (rise of the Beatles and quality of the Beach Boys' own records) and marriage to his first wife, Marilyn Rovell. All this culminated in several nervous breakdowns in the mid- and late 1960s. The problem was exacerbated due to Brian Wilson's drug use and anxiety.
According to the Guardian, what followed was a schizoaffective disorder and a mild manic depression diagnosis. The singer also experienced auditory hallucinations (essentially voices in his head). He began isolating himself from his bandmates. Wilson even spent time in psychiatric hospitals in the late '60s.
Keith Badman, in his book, claimed that Brian Wilson became self-destructive after the Beach Boys' publishing company, Sea of Tunes, sold their song catalog in 1969. Wilson allegedly tried to drive off a cliff and even asked to be buried in a grave he had dug in his backyard.
After his father died in the early 1970s, Wilson struggled with alcoholism, drug use, and overeating. According to The Guardian, his involvement with the Beach Boys and music declined sharply over time.
According to Badman, Beach Boys band manager Stephen Love appointed his brother Stan, a professional basketball player, as Brian Wilson's bodyguard, trainer, and caretaker. Under Stan's care, Wilson's mental health improved; however, the athlete soon returned to his NBA commitments.
This led to Wilson meeting a controversial psychiatric therapist, Eugene Landy. With help from Landy, the musician stabilized, becoming socially engaged and productive. In the late '70s, Wilson resumed his work (including on-stage performances, something he stopped) with the Beach Boys.
However, following a botched tour in 1978, Brian Wilson relapsed. According to Badman, he began abusing alcohol, cocaine, and barbiturates.
By the early '80s, Marilyn Rovell divorced Brian Wilson, and the musician signed a document handing off his finances to bandmate and brother Carl Wilson. He also gave away his voting rights in the band's corporate structure to Carl. Following an overdose, Wilson's family and management urged the musician to reenter Landy's care.
While initially Brian Wilson improved under Landy's considerably expensive care, the therapist soon began exerting influence over the musician's life. This included taking executive producer and co-writing credits on Wilson’s solo work and adding himself into Wilson's will via a conservatorship agreement. According to Badman, Wilson and Landy's partnership dissolved in 1991, with the former's family getting a restraining order against Landy.
In 1995, Brian Wilson married Melinda Kae Ledbetter, who would go on to become his manager and conservator (previously, the court appointed Jerome Billet as his guardian). The musician's mental health significantly improved following his dissociation from Landy. He soon felt comfortable on stage and even went on to release live albums, even reconciling with the Beach Boys.
Melinda passed away in January 2024. At the time, Brian Wilson described her as his "savior." In his Instagram post, he wrote:
"Melinda was more than my wife. She was my savior. She gave me the emotional security I needed to have a career. She encouraged me to make the music that was closest to my heart. She was my anchor. She was everything for us."
A month after Melinda's death, Wilson's family filed for a conservatorship, alleging that the musician's cognitive ability had regressed. The filing claimed he was suffering from "major neurocognitive disorders (including dementia)" and could not care for his own basic needs, such as food, clothing, and shelter.
In May 2024, Brian Wilson entered a court-ordered conservatorship, with publicist Jean Sievers and manager LeeAnn Hard as his guardians. Notably, their duties did not include Wilson's finances.
It is worth noting that in his book The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys, and the Southern Californian Experience, Timothy White revealed that the musician had diminished hearing in his right ear. He added that it was diagnosed as a nerve impingement, and Wilson underwent an unsuccessful corrective surgery in the 1960s for the same.
The Beach Boys remembered Wilson in an Instagram post, praising his legacy. Meanwhile, celebrities such as Nancy Sinatra, Sean Lennon, and John Cusack shared tributes on their respective social media accounts.
There is no official word on Brian's funeral and memorial service as of this writing.
