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Brian Wilson, Beach Boys visionary leader and summer's poet laureate, dies at 82


Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys' visionary and fragile leader, has died at 82.

Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys’ visionary and fragile leader whose genius for melody, arrangements and wide-eyed self-expression inspired “Good Vibrations,” “California Girls” and other summertime anthems and made him one of the world’s most influential recording artists, has died at 82.Video above: Remembering those we lost in 2025Wilson's family posted news of his death to his website and social media accounts Wednesday. Further details weren't immediately available.The eldest and last surviving of three musical brothers — Brian played bass, Carl lead guitar and Dennis drums — he and his fellow Beach Boys rose in the 1960s from local California band to national hitmakers to international ambassadors of surf and sun. Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys’ visionary and fragile leader whose genius for melody, arrangements and wide-eyed self-expression inspired “Good Vibrations,” “California Girls” and other summertime anthems and made him one of the world’s most influential recording artists, has died at 82.

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