HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BRIAN WILSON (BEACH BOYS) – JUNE 20, 1942 – TIMH

In honor of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ NBA Championship, we wish Happy Birthday to Brian Wilson. Non sequitur you say? Not at all. Kevin Love and his father Stan, also an NBA player, are cousins of Brian’s. Want some more useless trivia about the multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer of the Beach Boys?

Brian Douglas Wilson was born June 20, 1942, in Inglewood, CA
He's the oldest of 3 boys, brothers Carl and Dennis
Dennis, the only true surfer in the Beach Boys, drowned in December, 1983
Brian's cousin Mike Love and high school classmate Al Jardine, with Wilson boys, comprised the original Beach Boys

Brian's father, Murray, claimed Brian could hum song melodies after hearing them before his first birthday – his first song? The “Marine Corps Hymn”
Brian suffers from partial hearing loss in his right ear, cause unknown but widely blamed on Murry hitting him
Murray was a minor musician and songwriter who had a song performed by Lawrence Welk
Murray pushed the boys into music, and managed them with system of fines that included $50 for hanging out with girls - Mike Love was 22 at the time

Murry had a glass eye and punished the boys by taking it out and forcing them to look into the empty socket
Brian’s musical training consisted of toy accordion lessons for 6-7 weeks when he was 5 or 6. He was self taught on piano and bass guitar, which he learned in 3 days
He attended El Camino College in 1960, studying psychology
The Beach Boys were first called The Pendletones, after the wool shirts worn by surfers
Their first record company, Candix, changed the band name without their permission or knowledge when “Surfin’” became a hit
Brian stopped touring in 1964 due to panic attacks. He was replaced by Glen Campbell and later Bruce Johnston
In December of '64, he first tried cannabis and LSD, which he called a “religious experience.” He’s had auditory hallucinations ever since.
Brian had a period of gross weight gain. He used to eat a dozen eggs and a whole loaf of bread for breakfast every day. His psychologist padlocked his refrigerator, and rewarded him with cheeseburgers for writing songs
In late 1965, Brian started work on Pet Sounds – his response to the Beatles’ Rubber Soul. It was one of the first concept albums, and was recorded with the Wrecking Crew, a group of LA session players, while the Beach Boys were on tour in Japan
After Pet Sounds, Brian moved to a recording studio built in the living room of his mansion in Bel Air. The house was once the home of Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan)
Dennis Wilson brought Charles Manson and his “family” to Brian's house several times to record. Manson wrote a B-side for the Beach Boys “Never Learn Not to Love”
In 1968, Brian admitted himself to a psychiatric hospital where he received lithium and electroconvulsive therapy
Murray sold the Beach Boys publishing rights to A&M Records for $700,000
From 1973 to 1975, Brian was a recluse. He was using drugs, attempted suicide, and hung out with “Hollywood Vampires” Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, Harry Nilsson, John Lennon, Keith Moon, Ringo Starr, and Mickey Dolenz (not the same Hollywood Vampires as Johnny Depp’s band).

1975 to 1992, is the so-called "Landy period." Eugene Landy, a radical psychologist, misdiagnosed Brian as paranoid schizophrenic and fed him a drug regimen that incapacitated him. Meanwhile, Landy ran Brian's business and life while living in one of his homes and paying himself handsomely
Brian is actually bipolar
He never saw a movie between 1968 and E.T. in 1983
Known for his innovative recording techniques, Brian wrote or co-wrote >2 dozen Top 40 hits for the Beach Boys
Pet Sounds is #2 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

The follow up album to Pet Sounds, Smile, was not released until 2004, due in part to Brian’s mental deterioration
In a lawsuit by Carl Wilson, a court ordered Brian removed from Eugene Landy’s care in 1992
Brian and the Beach Boys were inducted into the rock HOF in 1988
Love and Mercy, a biopic based on Brian’s life, was released in 2014
Brian considers “Shortenin’ Bread” to be the greatest song ever written
He has 7 children, including daughters Carnie and Wendy Wilson of Wilson Phillips