Carl Wilson

Early years and success Carl Dean Wilson was born the youngest of the three Wilson boys in Hawthorne, California, the youngest son of Audree Neva (née Korthof) and Murry Gage Wilson. As young children, he and his brothers suffered frequent verbal and physical abuse at the hands of their father. From his pre-teens he 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. 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 to assist with the complex material, but the band was not eliminated from recording the instrumental tracks and still continued to play on certain songs on each album. Unlike the other members of the band, Carl often played alongside session musicians and 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 the introduction to "California Girls", throughout the 1965 album The Beach Boys Today! and on "That's Not Me" from Pet Sounds. After Brian's retirement from touring in 1965, Carl became the musical director of the band onstage. Production efforts 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. 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. Later years The Beach Boys' 1985 eponymous album prominently featured Wilson's lead vocals and songwriting, including on recordings such as "It's Gettin' Late" and "Where I Belong". In 1988, the Beach Boys scored their biggest chart success in more than 20 years with the US Number 1 song "Kokomo", co-written by Mike Love, John Phillips, Scott McKenzie, and Terry Melcher, 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 (1992), 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 canceled 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. ==Personal life and beliefs==

Wilson declared himself a conscientious objector and refused the draft to join the American military during the Vietnam War. By 1988, Wilson had become an ordained minister in the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness. Wilson was married twice: first to Annie Hinsche, sister of frequent Beach Boys sideman Billy Hinsche, then in 1987 to Dean Martin's daughter Gina (born December 20, 1956). With Annie, he had two sons. It was during the breakup of his and Annie's marriage that Carl wrote "Angel Come Home", which, according to co-writer Geoffrey Cushing-Murray, was about Wilson's grief over separating from his wife due to the Beach Boys' incessant touring. Gina accompanied him during all subsequent tours and the marriage lasted until his death. Wilson had an Irish Setter named Shannon, whose death inspired the emotional 1976 hit song "Shannon" by Henry Gross. ==Death and posthumous releases==

Wilson became ill at his vacation home in Hawaii in early 1997. He was diagnosed with lung cancer, and was started on chemotherapy. He had been smoking cigarettes since his early teens. Despite his illness and treatments, he continued to play and sing with the Beach Boys throughout their entire summer tour until its completion in the autumn of 1997. Wilson died of lung cancer in Los Angeles, surrounded by his family, on February 6, 1998. His death occurred just two months after the death of his mother, Audree Wilson. He was interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. 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) features 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 canceled 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. In 2010, bandmate Al Jardine released his first solo album, A Postcard From California, which includes a similarly reconstructed track, "Don't Fight The Sea". 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 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. It features one of the last vocals Carl recorded before his death. 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. ==Equipment==

identical to the 12-string guitar used by Carl in the early to mid-1960s Information per Jon Stebbins. Guitars • Kay single cutaway acoustic – with pickup added • Fender Stratocaster – Sunburst • Fender Jaguar – Olympic white • Rickenbacker 360/12 old style – Fireglo • Rickenbacker 360/12 new style – Fireglo • Fender Electric XII – Olympic white • Guild Starfire VI • Fender Telecaster – Natural with Bigsby Tremolo • Gibson ES-335 Custom – Blonde with Bigsby Tremolo • Fender Stratocaster – Olympic white • Epiphone Riviera 12-string – Tobacco Sunburst with Gibson neck Bass • Hofner copy Amplifiers • Fender Dual Showman – blonde with Outboard Spring Reverb Unit • Fender Dual Showman – black • Fender Bandmaster • Fender Bassman • Fender Twin Reverb == Discography ==

Solo albums Solo singles Songwriting credits • ''Surfin' U.S.A.'' (1963) • "Surf Jam" • Shut Down Volume 2 (1964) • "Shut Down, Part II" • All Summer Long (1964) • "Carl's Big Chance" (with Brian Wilson) • The Beach Boys Today! (1965) • "Dance, Dance, Dance" (with Brian, Mike Love) • Wild Honey (1967) • "How She Boogalooed It" (with Mike, Bruce Johnston, Al Jardine) • Friends (1968) • "Friends" (with Brian, Dennis Wilson, Jardine) • "Be Here in the Mornin'" (with Brian, Dennis, Jardine, Mike) • "When a Man Needs a Woman" (with Brian, Dennis, Jardine, Steve Korthof, Jon Parks) • 20/20 (1969) • "I Went to Sleep" (with Brian) • Sunflower (1970) • "It's About Time" (with Dennis, Jardine, Bob Burchman) • "Our Sweet Love" (with Brian, Jardine) • ''Surf's Up'' (1971) • "Feel Flows" (with Jack Rieley) • "Long Promised Road" (with Rieley) • Carl and the Passions – "So Tough" (1972) • "All This Is That" (with Mike, Jardine) • Holland (1973) • "The Trader" (with Rieley) • "Leaving This Town" (with Mike, Ricky Fataar, Blondie Chaplin) • Pacific Ocean Blue (1977) • "River Song" (with Dennis) • "Rainbows" (with Dennis, Steve Kalinich) • L.A. (Light Album) (1979) • "Good Timin'" (with Brian) • "Full Sail" (with Geoffrey Cushing-Murray) • "Angel Come Home" (with Cushing-Murray) • "Goin' South" (with Cushing-Murray) • ''Keepin' the Summer Alive'' (1980) • "Keepin' the Summer Alive" (with Randy Bachman) • "Livin' with a Heartache" (with Bachman) • Carl Wilson (1981) • "Hold Me" (with Myrna Smith) • "Bright Lights" (with Myrna) • "What You Gonna Do About Me?" (with Myrna) • "The Right Lane" (with Myrna) • "Hurry Love" (with Myrna) • "Heaven" (with Myrna, Michael Sun) • "The Grammy" (with Myrna) • "Seems So Long Ago" (with Myrna) • Peter Cetera (1981) • "I Can Feel It" (with Peter Cetera, Ricky Fataar) • Youngblood (1983) • "What More Can I Say" (with Myrna) • "She's Mine" (with Myrna) • "Givin' You Up" (with Myrna, Jerry Schilling) • "Of the Times" (with Myrna Smith) • "Too Early to Tell" (with Myrna Smith, John Daly) • "If I Could Talk to Love" (with Myrna Smith) • "Time" (with Myrna Smith) • The Beach Boys (1985) • "It's Gettin' Late" (with Myrna, Robert White Johnson) • "Maybe I Don't Know" (with Myrna, Steve Levine, Julian Stewart Lindsay) • "Where I Belong" (with White Johnson) • Lost & Found (1961–62) (1991) • "Beach Boy Stomp (A.K.A. Karate)" • Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys (1993) • "Our Team" (with Brian, Dennis, Jardine, Mike) • Like a Brother (2000) • "I Wish For You" (with Robert White Johnson, Phil Galdston) • "Run Don't Walk" (with Phil Galdston) • "They're Only Words" (with Phil Galdston) • "Like A Brother" (with Phil Galdston) • The Smile Sessions • "Tune X" • I Can Hear Music: The 20/20 Sessions (2018) • "Sail Plane Song" (with Brian) • Feel Flows (album) (2021) • "Loop de Loop" (with Brian, Jardine) • Misc Tracks 1971 (2021) • "Telephone Backgrounds (On A Clear Day)" • 1972 Release (2022) • "City Jim" • 1974 release (2024) • "Happy Birthday Roger McGuinn" • Non-album songs • "This Is Elvis" (recorded 1980, released 2015) ==References==