February 6, 1998 Carl Wilson died at age 51

FEBRUARY 6, 1998 – CARL WILSON (b. December 21, 1946 in Hawthorne, California as Carl Dean Wilson) died at age 51 after a long battle with lung cancer. A cigarette smoker since the age of 13, Carl was diagnosed with lung cancer after becoming ill at his vacation home in Hawaii in early 1997. Carl died in Los Angeles, surrounded by his family, just two months after the death of his mother, Audree Wilson. He was interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. He’d been diagnosed with brain and lung cancer in early 1997.Best remembered as the lead guitarist and as the youngest brother of bandmates Brian and Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, Wilson was influenced by the guitar playing of Chuck Berry and the Ventures. Carl’s initial role in the group was that of lead guitarist and backing vocals, but he performed lead vocals on several of their hits, including “God Only Knows” (1966) and “Good Vibrations” (1966). Unlike other members of the band, he often played alongside the studio musicians employed during the group’s critical and commercial peak in the mid-1960s. After Brian began withdrawing from the group, Carl was forced to take a more active production role, and he became the band’s musical director on stage from 1965 until his death.Born the youngest son of Audree Neva (née Korthof) and Murry Gage Wilson, from his pre-teens Carl practiced harmony vocals under the guidance of his brother Brian, who often sang in the family music room with his mother and brothers. Inspired by country star Spade Cooley, at the age of 12, Carl asked his parents to buy him a guitar, for which he took some lessons. In 1982, Carl remembered from this time: “The kid across the street, David Marks, was taking guitar lessons from John Maus, so I started, too. David and I were about 12 and John was only three years older, but we thought he was a shit-hot guitarist. John and his sister Judy did fraternity gigs together as a duo. Later John moved to England and became one of the Walker Brothers. … He showed me some fingerpicking techniques and strumming stuff that I still use. When I play a solo, he’s still there.” While Brian perfected the band’s vocal style and keyboard base, Carl’s Chuck Berry-esque guitar became an early Beach Boys trademark. While in high school, Carl also studied saxophone.Turning 15 as the group’s first hit, “Surfin'”, broke locally in Los Angeles, Carl’s father and manager, Murry (who had sold his business to support his sons’ band), bought him a Fender Jaguar guitar. Carl developed as a musician and singer through the band’s early recordings, and the early “surf lick” sound quickly evolved as is apparent on “Fun, Fun, Fun”, recorded in 1964 when Carl was 17. By the end of 1964, he was diversifying, favoring the 12-string Rickenbacker that was also notably used by Roger McGuinn in establishing the sound of the Byrds and by George Harrison of The Beatles during this era. Dave Marsh, in “The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll” (1976), stated that Pete Townshend of The Who expanded on both R&B and white rock “influenced heavily by Beach Boy Carl Wilson…”Carl’s lead vocals in the band’s first three years were infrequent. Although all members of the band played on their early recordings, Brian began to employ experienced session musicians to play on the group’s instrumental tracks by 1965. Unlike the other members of the band, Carl often played alongside session musicians. He also recorded his individual guitar leads during the Beach Boys’ vocal sessions, with his guitar plugged directly into the soundboard. His playing can be heard on tracks like 1965’s “Girl Don’t Tell Me” and 1966’s “That’s Not Me”.After Brian’s retirement from touring in 1965, Carl became the musical director of the band onstage. Contracts at that time stipulated that promoters hire “Carl Wilson plus four other musicians”. Following his lead vocal performance on “God Only Knows” in 1966, Carl was increasingly lead vocalist for the band, a role previously dominated by Mike Love and Brian. He sang leads on the singles “Good Vibrations”, “Darlin'”, and “Wild Honey”. Starting with the album “Wild Honey,” Brian requested that Carl become more involved in the Beach Boys’ records.In 1969, the Beach Boys’ rendition of “I Can Hear Music” was the first track produced solely by Carl Wilson. By then, he had effectively become the band’s in-studio leader, producing the bulk of the albums during the early 1970s. Though Carl had written surf instrumentals for the band in the early days, he did not get into his stride as a songwriter until the 1971 album “Surf’s Up,” for which he composed “Long Promised Road” and “Feel Flows”, with lyrics by the band’s then manager Jack Rieley. Carl considered “Long Promised Road” his first real song. After producing the majority of Carl and the Passions’ “So Tough” (1972) and “Holland” (1973), Carl’s leadership role diminished somewhat, due to Brian’s brief public reemergence and because of Carl’s own substance abuse problems.For “L.A.” (“Light Album”) (1979), Carl contributed three songs, among them “Good Timin'”, co-written with Brian five years earlier, which became a Top 40 American hit. Carl’s main writing partner in the late 1970s was Geoffrey Cushing-Murray, but for “Keepin’ the Summer Alive” (1980) he wrote with Randy Bachman of the band Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Carl told Michael Feeney Callan, writer-director of the RTÉ 1993 documentary “The Beach Boys Today” (a celebration of the Beach Boys’ 30th anniversary), that Bachman was his favorite writing partner, accordingly: “Basically because he rocked, and I love to rock”.As a producer and vocalist, Carl’s work was not confined to the Beach Boys. During the 1970s, he also produced records for other artists, such as Ricci Martin (son of Dean Martin) and South African group the Flames, two members of which later temporarily joined the Beach Boys’ line-up. He lent backing vocals to many works, including Chicago’s hits “Baby, What a Big Surprise” and “Wishing You Were Here” (with Al Jardine and brother Dennis), Elton John’s “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” (with Bruce Johnston), David Lee Roth’s hit cover of “California Girls”, Warren Zevon’s “Desperados Under the Eaves”, and the Carnie/Wendy Wilson holiday track “Hey Santa!” Carl also recorded a duet with Olivia Newton-John titled “You Were Great, How Was I?” for her studio album “Soul Kiss” (1985). It was not released as a single.By the early 1980s the Beach Boys were in disarray; the band had split into several camps. Frustrated with the band’s sluggishness to record new material and reluctance to rehearse, Wilson took a leave of absence in 1981. He quickly recorded and released the solo album “Carl Wilson,” which was composed largely of rock n’ roll songs co-written with Myrna Smith-Schilling, a former backing vocalist for Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin, and wife of Wilson’s then-manager Jerry Schilling. The album briefly charted, and its second single, “Heaven”, reached the top 20 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart. Wilson also undertook a solo tour to promote the album, becoming the first member of the Beach Boys to break ranks. Initially, Wilson and his band played clubs like The Bottom Line in New York City and the Roxy in Los Angeles. Thereafter, he joined the Doobie Brothers as opening act for their 1981 summer tour.Wilson recorded a second solo album “Youngblood” in a similar vein, but by the time of its release in 1983 he had rejoined the Beach Boys. Although Youngblood did not chart, a single, the John Hall-penned “What You Do To Me”, peaked at #72, making Wilson the second Beach Boy to land a solo single on the Billboard Hot 100. Additionally, the song cracked the top 20 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart. Wilson frequently performed that song and “Rockin’ All Over the World” (from the same album), as well as “Heaven” from the 1981 album, at Beach Boys’ concerts in the 1980s. “Heaven” was always announced as a tribute to brother Dennis, who drowned in December 1983.”Soul Searchin'” was part of the Andy Paley sessions, recorded in November 1995. It was the final lead vocal recorded by Carl with the Beach Boys. The Beach Boys’ 1985 eponymous album prominently featured Wilson’s lead vocals and songwriting, highlighted by his “It’s Gettin’ Late” (another top 20 Adult Contemporary hit) and the “Heaven”-like “Where I Belong”.In 1988, Carl was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Beach Boys.That same year, the Beach Boys scored their biggest chart success in more than 20 years with the US #1 song “Kokomo”, co-written by Mike Love, on which Carl sang lead in the chorus. After this, Love increasingly dominated the band’s recorded output and became the driving force behind the album “Summer in Paradise” (1993), the first and only Beach Boys album with no input from Brian in any form. In 1992, Carl told Michael Feeney Callan his hope was to record new material by Brian. “Speaking for myself”, he told Callan, “I only want to record inspired music”.Carl continued recording through the 1990s and participated in the Don Was-led recordings of Brian’s “Soul Searchin'” and “You’re Still a Mystery”, songs conceived as the basis of a cancelled Brian Wilson/Beach Boys album. He also recorded the album “Like a Brother” with Robert Lamm and Gerry Beckley, while continuing to tour with the Beach Boys until the last months of his life. The Beckley-Lamm-Wilson album “Like a Brother” was finally released in 2000, and Carl’s late recordings continue to appear. Brian’s album “Gettin’ in Over My Head” (2004) featured Carl’s vocal from the unreleased Beach Boys song “Soul Searchin'”, with new backing vocals recorded by Brian. The original Beach Boys version, sourced from a cancelled attempt at a new Beach Boys album in late 1995, was eventually released in the “Made in California” (2013) box set, along with another 1995 track titled “You’re Still a Mystery”, which features Carl in the vocal blend.
Despite his illness, Carl continued to perform while undergoing chemotherapy. He played and sang throughout the Beach Boys’ entire summer tour which ended in the fall of 1997. During the performances, he sat on a stool, but he stood while singing “God Only Knows”.
In 2010, bandmate Al Jardine released “A Postcard From California,” his first solo album which includes a similarly reconstructed track, “Don’t Fight The Sea”, featuring one of the last vocals Carl recorded. Carl can also be heard on the continual stream of Beach Boys archival releases, most notably as a central voice in the November 2011 release of “The Smile Sessions.”It was announced that Wilson’s voice would be heard on a track from the reunited Beach Boys, on the album “That’s Why God Made the Radio” (2012), but this never materialized. Instead, the scheduled song, “Waves of Love”, featured on the 2012 re-release of Jardine’s “A Postcard From California.” During The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Reunion Tour, a segment of the show was dedicated to the memories of Dennis and Carl. The band harmonized with isolated vocal tracks of Carl performing “God Only Knows” and of Dennis singing “Forever”, as the band’s crew projected images of the individual Wilson brothers on a large screen behind the band onstage.