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He was born in Inglewood,
California and was the brother of Chris
and Brian Wilson. He was a
founder member of The Beach Boys but only included due to the insistence, to
Brian, of his mother, Audree. He was the only real
surfer in the family and urged on by Mike Love, his older cousin, he was
the one that suggested that they form a proper group and use surfing as a
musical subject along with the Southern Californian way of life. Although he matured and his
abilities as a musician grew they were put to one side as Brian liked to
use session drummers, but he was the most popular member of the group and
known as a Box-Office sex symbol.
Although not given too many lead vocals he sang them on "Do
You Wanna Dance?" and then was given great reviews on his covering of
John Lennon's "You've Got To Hide Your Love
Away". From 1968 he
became their second most important composer. From 1971-1974 he could not drum due
to a hand injury and became a front singer with Mike Love which caused some
tension according to Al Jardine.
After there was a three year hiatus his voice deteriorated due to a
possible injury in 1974 and alcohol abuse. In 1974 he resumed on the
drums. Charles Manson was his
protege and lived with him prior to the murders and this
affected him for the rest of his life. He refused to testify at the
trial as he was "so scared". He starred in the film Two
Lane Black-Stop
as "The Mechanic" with James Taylor and Warren
Oates. He produced a solo album called Pacific Blue
where he collaborated with Daryl Dragon
from The Captain and Tennille.
His alcoholism became worse and at the Super Bowl in 1981 he was
beaten up by his cousin and an ex-employee of Brian's.for sharing
drugs with his brothers. This
damaged his vocal chords further and he to have operations to remove polyps
that had formed as a result. He
drowned on 28th December 1983 aged 39 in an alcohol-related
boating accident at Marine Del Ray in Los
Angeles. He left behind his wife Shawn Love
who is the alleged illegitimate daughter of Mike Love and their son
Gage. He had been married three
times previous to Carol Freedman with whom he had a daughter Jennifer and
an adopted son, Scott, Barbara Cherren, who whom he had sons Michael and Carl, and to
Karen Lamm who was the ex-wife
of Robert Lamm of Chicago. He was buried at sea off the
California
coast.
Beach Boy Recordings
Wendy (Brian Wilson)
Livin' With a Heartache (Carl
Wilson/Randy Bachman)
Little Honda (Brian Wilson/Mike Love)
Source:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Wilson
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