Out and About -July-issue-

CELEBRITY PROFILE
JULY 2021 | 57
songs, including a car song, “409”,
that Usher helped them write.
Wilson and the Beach Boys cut
new tracks at Western Recorders
in Hollywood, including “Surfin’
Safari” and “409”. These songs
the gas a little bit.” “I Get Around”,
their first U.S. number one hit,
as representing both a successful
response by Wilson to the British
Invasion, and the beginning of
an unofficial rivalry between him
convinced Capitol Records to
and the Beatles, principally Paul
release the demos as a single; they
became a double-sided national
McCartney. The B-side, “Don’t
Worry Baby”, was cited by Wilson
Throughout 1964, Wilson
in a 1970 interview as “Probably the
engaged in worldwide concert
best record we’ve done”.
tours with the Beach Boys while
Wilson ceased writing surfingthemed
continuing to write and produce
material after “Don’t
for the group, whose studio output
Back Down” in April. During the
for this year included the albums Wilson’s senior yearbook group’s first major European tour,
Shut Down Volume 2 (March), All photo, June 1960 in late 1964, Wilson replied angrily to
Summer Long (June), and The Beach
a journalist when asked how he felt
Boys’ Christmas Album (November).
Following a particularly stressful Australasian tour
in early 1964, it was agreed by the group to dismiss
Wilson’s father Murry from his managerial duties.
Murry still had a subsequent influence over the
band’s activities and kept a direct correspondence
with Brian, giving him thoughts about the group’s
decisions; Wilson also periodically sought music
opinions from his father.
In February, Beatlemania swept the U.S., a
development that deeply disturbed Wilson. In
a 1966 interview, he commented, “The Beatles
invasion shook me up a lot. They eclipsed a lot
of what we’d worked for. ... The Beach Boys’
supremacy as the number one vocal group in
America was being challenged. So we stepped on
about originating the surfing sound:
“We don’t play surfing music. We’re tired of being
labelled as the originators of the surfing sound. We
just produce a sound that teens dig, and that can be
applied to any theme. The surfing theme has run its
course. Cars are finished now, too. And even Hondas
are over. We’re just gonna stay on the life of a social
teenager.” While promoting Christmas Album, Jack
Wagner remarked that Wilson’s decision to sing
solo on a version of “Blue Christmas” could be
“the start of a whole new career”, to which Wilson
responded “I don’t know. It could and it couldn’t. I
really don’t know.”
The Pet Sounds tour played in Europe, with a
sold-out four-night residency at the Royal Festival
Hall in London.
At age 11, Wilson was discovered to have
significantly diminished hearing in his right ear.
The cause is unclear; theories range from it being a
birth defect to him being struck by either his father
or a neighbourhood boy. In his memoir, the blame
is given to a neighbourhood boy, he underwent
corrective surgery that was unsuccessful in
restoring his hearing.
Wilson and Marilyn were married in December
1964. Together, they had two daughters, Carnie and
Wendy (born 1968 and 1969, respectively), who
later had musical success of their own as two-thirds
of the group Wilson Phillips .
Wilson performing with the Beach Boys in 1983
By Carol Levey