Dennis Wilson

Dennis Carl Wilson (December 4, 1944 – December 28, 1983) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He was their drummer and the middle brother of bandmates Brian and Carl Wilson. The only dedicated surfer in the group, his lifestyle embodied the "California myth" that inspired and was celebrated in many of the band's early songs. He later contributed original material to their catalog, including "Forever", his best-known song.

Wilson drummed on many of the group's hits, belying the popular misconception that he was usually replaced on record by studio musicians. His only solo album issued in his lifetime, Pacific Ocean Blue (1977), was released to warm reviews and sales matching those of contemporaneous Beach Boys albums, and has subsequently gained a cult following over time.

The Beach Boys officially formed in late 1961, with Murry taking over as manager, and had a local hit with their debut record "Surfin'", a song that Brian wrote at Dennis's urging. Dennis recalled, "We got so excited ... I ran down the street screaming, 'Listen, we're on the radio!' It was really funky. That started it, the minute you're on the radio." Though the Beach Boys developed their image based on the California surfing culture, Dennis was the only actual surfer in the band. Carl supported, "Dennis was the only one who could really surf. We all tried, even Brian, but we were terrible. We just wanted to have a good time and play music."

In early 1963, Dennis teamed with Brian's collaborator Gary Usher. Calling themselves the Four Speeds, they released the single "RPM" backed with "My Stingray". In March 1964, Dennis moved out of the Wilson family home and took residence at an address in Hollywood. In the sleeve notes of the band's July 1964 album All Summer Long, Dennis wrote, "They say I live a fast life. Maybe I just like a fast life. I wouldn't give it up for anything in the world. It won't last forever, either. But the memories will." In December, Murry told a reporter that Dennis had been "a little too generous" with money and "cried when he learned about how much he had wasted. ... Where the other boys invested or saved their money, Dennis spent $94,000. He spent $25,000 on a home but the rest just went. Dennis [is] like that: he picks up the tab wherever he goes."

In January 1965, Brian declared to his bandmates that he would no longer tour with the group for the foreseeable future. He later said that Dennis was so devastated by the news that his immediate reaction was to pick up "a big ashtray and told some people to get out of there or he'd hit them on the head with it. He kind of blew it." Photographer Ed Roach, a close friend of Dennis, stated that Brian was deterred from the stage due to jealousy over the adulation Dennis received from the audience. Brian remembered that the attention Dennis received was "hard to handle". The girls would be going 'Dennis, Dennis' and run right past us to get to him." Dennis later said of his brother, "Brian Wilson is the Beach Boys. He is the band. We're his fucking messengers. He is all of it. Period. We're nothing. He's everything."

Increased record presence Brian wrote that he had felt that Dennis "never really had a chance to sing very much", and so he gave him more leads on their March 1965 album The Beach Boys Today!. Dennis sang "Do You Wanna Dance?" and "In the Back of My Mind". The former became the first song with a Dennis lead that was issued as an A-sided single, peaking at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. Journalist Peter Doggett later said that Dennis' performance on the latter song "showed for the first time an awareness that his voice could be a blunt emotional instrument. ... his erratic croon cut straight to the heart, with an urgency that his more precise brothers could never have matched." Released in July, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) contained Dennis's favorite song by Brian, "Let Him Run Wild".

By 1966, Dennis had begun using LSD. His drumming contributions on Pet Sounds (1966) were limited to the track "That's Not Me". Carl said, "Brian liked to use [session drummer] Hal [Blaine] because he was so much more reliable than Dennis, but whenever Dennis got the chance to play he always did a great job. He played drums on more of our records than most people realize. I think because he didn't play on Pet Sounds everybody assumes he never played at all, and that's just not the case."

During the Smile sessions, Dennis played on "Vega-Tables", "Holidays", and "Good Vibrations". It is rumored that the album's working title, Dumb Angel, referred to Dennis himself. Van Dyke Parks, the project's lyricist, credited Wilson with inspiring the name of the would-be album track "Surf's Up". Dennis said that the group ultimately scrapped Smile because they became "very paranoid about the possibility of losing our public. ... Drugs played a great role in our evolution but as a result we were frightened that people would no longer understand us, musically."

Manson association Contact with Manson

On April 6, 1968, Wilson was driving through Malibu when he noticed two female hitchhikers, Patricia Krenwinkel and Ella Jo Bailey. He picked them up and dropped them off at their destination. On April 11, Wilson noticed the same two girls hitchhiking again. This time he took them to his home at 14400 Sunset Boulevard. He recalled that he "told [the girls] about our involvement with the Maharishi and they told me they too had a guru, a guy named Charlie [Manson] who'd recently had come out of jail after 12 years." Wilson then went to a recording session; when he returned later that night, he was met in his driveway by Charles Manson, and when Wilson walked into his home, about a dozen people were occupying the premises, most of them young women. They were later known as members of the "Manson Family".

Wilson was initially fascinated by Manson and his followers, referring to him as "the Wizard" in a Rave magazine article at the time. Band engineer Stephen Desper said that the Manson sessions were done "for Dennis [Wilson] and Terry Melcher".

In September 1968, Wilson recorded a Manson song for the Beach Boys, originally titled "Cease to Exist" but reworked as "Never Learn Not to Love", as a single B-side released the following December. The writing was credited solely to Wilson. When asked why Manson was not credited, Wilson explained that Manson relinquished his publishing rights in favor of "about a hundred thousand dollars' worth of stuff". By another account, Manson was paid cash and given a BSA motorcycle in exchange for songwriting credit. Around this time, the Family destroyed Wilson's Ferrari, as well as his Mercedes-Benz, which had been driven to a mountain outside Spahn Ranch.

Disassociation Growing fearful of the situation, Wilson distanced himself from Manson and moved out of the house, leaving Manson and his followers there, and subsequently took residence with Gregg Jakobson at a basement apartment in Santa Monica. Virtually all of Wilson's household possessions were stolen by the Family; the members were evicted from his home three weeks before the lease was scheduled to expire. When Manson subsequently sought further contact, he left a bullet with Wilson's housekeeper to be delivered with a threatening message.

Conversely, band manager Nick Grillo said that Wilson became more concerned after Manson had got "into a much heavier drug situation ... taking a tremendous amount of acid and Dennis wouldn't tolerate it and asked him to leave. It was difficult for Dennis because he was afraid of Charlie." Writing in his 2016 memoir, Mike Love recalled Wilson saying he had witnessed Manson shooting a black man "in half" with an M16 rifle and hiding the body inside a well. Melcher said that Wilson had been aware that the Family "were killing people" and had been "so freaked out he just didn't want to live anymore. He was afraid, and he thought he should have gone to the authorities, but he didn't, and the rest of it happened."

Aftermath In August 1969, Manson Family members perpetrated the Tate–LaBianca murders. Shortly afterward, Manson visited Wilson's home, telling him that he had "just been to the moon", and demanded money, which Wilson agreed to give to him. That November, Manson was apprehended and charged with numerous counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Wilson refused to testify against Manson. He explained, "I couldn't. I was so scared." Instead, he was privately interviewed by prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi. Wilson's testimony was deemed inessential since Jakobson agreed to publicly testify and corroborate Wilson's claims. Melcher later commented that Wilson had not been taken to the stand because the prosecutors "thought he was nuts, and by that time he was. He had a hard time separating reality from fantasy." Bugliosi said that when he attempted to procure tapes of the songs that Wilson had recorded with Manson, Wilson responded that he had destroyed them because "the vibrations connected with them didn't belong on this earth."

In the subsequent years, Wilson allegedly received death threats from members of the Manson Family, who telephoned his home and told him, "You're next". In 1976, he commented that "I don't talk about Manson. I think he's a sick fuck. I think of Roman and all those wonderful people who had a beautiful family and they fucking had their tits cut off. I want to benefit from that?" In the 1978 biography The Beach Boys and the California Myth, Wilson acknowledged the interest in his relationship with Manson and said, "I know why [he] did what he did. Someday, I'll tell the world. I'll write a book and explain why he did it." According to biographer Mark Dillon, "Some attribute [Wilson's] subsequent spiral of self-destructive behavior ― particularly his drug intake ― to these fears and feelings of guilt for ever having introduced this evil Wizard into the Hollywood scene." On December 4, Stateside/EMI released "Sound of Free", a single issued only in Europe and the UK under the credit "Dennis Wilson & Rumbo". The B-side was the Sunflower outtake "Lady" (also known as "Fallin' In Love"). At the Beach Boys' concerts in 1971, Dennis played solo piano renditions of his songs "Barbara" and "I've Got a Friend". Biographer Jon Stebbins writes, "He was developing a power-ballad style that would become his signature."

Dennis's two song contributions to the Beach Boys' August 1971 album Surf's Up – "4th of July" and "(Wouldn't It Be Nice to) Live Again" – were left off the record. At the time, Dennis stated that he "pulled" the songs off the record because he did not feel they flowed well alongside the other tracks. According to band manager Jack Rieley, the absence of any Dennis songs on Surf's Up was for two reasons: to quell political infighting within the group concerning the album's share of Wilson-brother songs, and because Dennis wanted to save his songs for a solo album.

Engineer Stephen Desper said of Dennis's album, "ninety percent of it was ninety percent done". Fred Vail, the band's co-manager, described the album as "diamonds never cut and polished", and explained, "The Beach Boys obviously weren't buying into his songs as part of the group output." Several tracks from the album – "Baby Baby", "It's a New Day", "I've Got a Friend", "Behold the Night", "Hawaiian Dream", "Medley: All Of My Love / Ecology", and "Before" – were released on the 2021 box set Feel Flows.

In June 1971, Dennis injured his hand badly enough to prevent him from playing drums for some time, so Ricky Fataar took over as the group's drummer between 1972 and 1974. Stebbins writes, "Now, during concerts, the impulsive, physically aggressive Dennis would be reduced to sitting behind a keyboard or standing off to one side behind a microphone. It hurt him deeply. He felt like a caged animal. His drinking became worse and his participation in the band became erratic." Biographer David Leaf wrote that, by this time, "Dennis was constantly quitting [the band] or getting fired and then rejoining."

Two more songs intended for Dennis's album – "Make it Good" and "Old Movie" (retitled "Cuddle Up") – were ultimately placed on the Beach Boys' 1972 release Carl and the Passions – "So Tough". Dennis wrote and produced two songs – "Steamboat" and "Only with You" – on their next album, Holland (1973). A third song, "Carry Me Home", was left off the record. The cover of their 1973 live album, The Beach Boys in Concert, depicts only Dennis onstage, although the album itself contains none of his songs.

Pacific Ocean Blue Wilson's onstage antics (including streaking) occasionally disrupted the Beach Boys' live shows. He continued recording for his forthcoming solo album at the band's Brother Studios facility in Santa Monica. In 1974, concurrent with the success of the greatest hits compilation Endless Summer, Dennis returned to his role behind the drums. Despite Dennis claiming the album had "no substance", Pacific Ocean Blue received positive reviews and later developed status as a cult item, ultimately selling nearly 250,000 copies.

The album remained largely out of print between the 1990s and 2000s.

Bambu Pacific Ocean Blue follow-up, Bambu, began production in 1978 at Brother Studios, with the collaboration of then Beach Boys keyboardist and Dennis' close friend Carli Muñoz as songwriter and producer. The first four songs officially recorded for Bambu were Muñoz's compositions: "It's Not Too Late", "Constant Companion", "All Alone", and "Under the Moonlight". The project was initially scuttled by lack of financing, Dennis' physical and mental decline due to alcoholism and severe drug abuse, which stemmed from his severe economic and marital problems at the time, and the distractions of simultaneous Beach Boys projects. Bambu was officially released in 2008 along with the Pacific Ocean Blue reissue.

Final years

Towards the end of his life, Wilson's growing abuse of alcohol, cocaine and heroin Two weeks later, the dispute was resolved, and Dennis rejoined the group.

By the last year of his life, he had virtually lost his normal speaking voice, struggled to sing and perform at concerts and his appearances at Beach Boys performances became sporadic. As the Beach Boys pressured Brian to admit himself into Eugene Landy's 24-hour therapy program, Dennis was informed by friends that he would be the band's next target, to Dennis's disbelief.

On December 28, 1983, Dennis drowned at Marina Del Rey after drinking all day and then diving in the afternoon to recover his ex-wife's belongings, previously thrown overboard at the marina from his yacht three years earlier amidst their divorce. On January 4, 1984, Dennis's body was buried at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard, off the California coast. Dennis's widow, Shawn Love, reported that Dennis had wanted a burial at sea, and his brothers Carl and Brian did not want Dennis cremated. At the time, only veterans of the Coast Guard and Navy were allowed to be buried in US waters without being first cremated. However, Dennis's burial at sea was made possible by the intervention of US president Ronald Reagan. In 2002, Brian expressed unhappiness with the arrangement, believing that Dennis should have been given a traditional burial.

The Beach Boys released a statement shortly after the burial ceremony: "We know Dennis would have wanted to continue in the tradition of the Beach Boys. His spirit will remain in our music."

Artistry and legacy

[His] intense, melancholic and soulful [songs] would usually sit at odds with the group's more wholesome image. ... As the Beach Boys descended into a parody of their former selves it would be Dennis who would twist their trademark sounds into new shapes. At his best this would sound something like Kurt Cobain produced by Phil Spector. — The Guardian journalist Adam Webb, 2003 His drumming is documented on a number of the group's early hits, including "I Get Around", "Fun, Fun, Fun", and "Don't Worry Baby". As the mid-1960s approached, Brian often hired session drummers, such as Hal Blaine, to perform on studio recordings due to Dennis' limited drumming technique and frequent unavailability. Dennis accepted this situation with equanimity.

In 1967, Dennis was cited as "the closest to brother Brian's own musical ideals ... He always emphasises the fusion, in their work, of pop and classical music." Dennis said his brother Brian was an "inspiration", not an influence, and that "Musically, I'm far apart from Brian. He's a hundred times more than what I am musically." Fleetwood Mac's 1982 songs "Hold Me" and "Only Over You" were written by McVie about Dennis. McVie later said of Dennis, "Half of him was like a little boy, and the other half was insane." Mick Fleetwood, who had introduced the couple to each other, wrote that "Chris almost went mad trying to keep up with Dennis, who was already like a man with twenty thyroid glands, not counting the gargantuan amounts of coke and booze he was shoving into himself."

At the time of his death, Wilson was married to (but separated from) Shawn Marie Harris (born on December 30, 1964),

Fictional depictions In the 1990 television movie Summer Dreams: The Story of the Beach Boys, Wilson is portrayed by Bruce Greenwood. In the 2000 miniseries The Beach Boys: An American Family, Wilson is portrayed by Nick Stabile. In the 2015 movie Love & Mercy, Wilson is portrayed by Kenny Wormald. In 2016, Wilson appeared as a character on the NBC crime drama series Aquarius, portrayed by Andy Favreau. Wilson is a minor character in Quentin Tarantino's 2021 novel Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Discography

Albums Year Album details Chart positions US (1977) UK (2008) NOR (2008) 1977 Pacific Ocean Blue Released: August 22, 1977 Label: Caribou96 16 5 2017 Bambu (The Caribou Sessions) Released: April 22, 2017 Label: Caribou—— —

Singles DateTitleLabelDecember 1970"Sound of Free" / "Lady"StatesideSeptember 1977"River Song" / "Farewell My Friend"CaribouOctober 1977"You and I" / "Friday Night"Songs (written or co-written by Dennis Wilson)

Surfer Girl (1963) "South Bay Surfer (The Old Folks at Home)" Shut Down Volume 2 (1964) "Denny's Drums" Friends (1968) "Friends" "Be Here in the Mornin'" "When a Man Needs a Woman" "Little Bird" "Be Still" 20/20 (1969) "Be with Me" "All I Want to Do" "Never Learn Not to Love" Sunflower (1970) "Slip On Through" "Got to Know the Woman" "It's About Time" "Forever" Carl and the Passions – "So Tough" (1972) "Make It Good" "Cuddle Up" Holland (1973) "Steamboat" "Only with You" Pacific Ocean Blue (1977) "River Song" "What's Wrong" "Moonshine" "Friday Night" "Dreamer" "Thoughts of You" "Time" "You and I" "Pacific Ocean Blues" "Farewell My Friend" "Rainbows" "End of the Show" Pacific Ocean Blue CD reissue bonus tracks "Tug of Love" "Holy Man" "Mexico" Bambu (The Caribou Sessions) (2017) "School Girl" "Love Remember Me' "Wild Situation" "Common" "Are You Real" "He's a Bum" "Cocktails" "I Love You" "Time for Bed" "Album Tag Song" "Piano Variations on "Thoughts of You"" L.A. (Light Album) (1979) "Love Surrounds Me" "Baby Blue" Ten Years of Harmony (1981) "San Miguel" Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys (1993) "4th of July" Endless Harmony Soundtrack (1997) "Barbara" Ultimate Christmas (1998) "Morning Christmas" The Smile Sessions (2011) "I Don't Know" Made in California (2013) "(Wouldn't It Be Nice to) Live Again" "Barnyard Blues" "My Love Lives On" "Celebrate the News" "Sound of Free" "Lady" Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018) "Away" "Untitled 1/25/68" I Can Hear Music: The 20/20 Sessions (2018) "Well, You Know I Knew" "Love Affair" "Peaches" "The Gong" "A Time to Live in Dreams" (Also on Hawthorne, CA (2003)) "Mona Kana" (Also on Made in California (2013)) 1969: I'm Going Your Way (2019) "I'm Going Your Way" Feel Flows (album) (2021) "Baby Baby" "It's a New Day" "Medley: All Of My Love/Ecology" "Before" "Behold the Night" "Hawaiian Dream" "I've Got A Friend" Misc Tracks 1971 (2021) "Just for You" "Untitled 1971 Piano Track" Sail On Sailor – 1972 (2022) "Carry Me Home" 1972 Release (2022) "Unknown Piano/Synth Track" 1974 Release (2022) "Life Symphony "String Base Song" "Long Road" "Moog and Piano Riff" "Untitled Demo"