Dennis Wilson biography
Dennis Carl Wilson (December 4, 1944 - December 28, 1983) was an American rock and roll musician best known as a founding member and the drummer of The Beach Boys. He was a member of the group from its formation until his death in 1983. Dennis was the middle brother of fellow Beach Boys members Brian Wilson and Carl Wilson, as well as cousin of Mike Love.
His prominence in the group as a writer and lead vocalist increased as their careers went on into the late 1960s and 1970s. He is often considered the dark horse of the Beach Boys members amongst fans and in 1977 he released his solo album Pacific Ocean Blue to wide critical acclaim, near Gold sales in the US and higher sales overseas. Dennis Wilson was also the only real-life surfer of the group, the seminal, most original and famous of the groups to be tagged surf rock in the early 1960s, and his personal life exemplified the beach lifestyle that the group's songs often celebrated.
Childhood years
Wilson was the son of Audree Neva (née Korthof) and Murry Gage Wilson. He spent his family years with his brothers and parents in Hawthorne, California. Dennis' role in the family dynamic, which he himself acknowledged, was that of the black sheep. Though anxiety-filled and aggressive at times, like the other Wilson brothers he was (over)sensitive and generous. He was the most often spanked of the Wilson brothers, by their strong-willed father Murry. Possessed with an abundance of physical energy and a combative nature, Dennis often refused to participate in family singalongs, and likewise avoided vocalizing on the early recordings made by Brian on a portable tape recorder. However, Dennis would sing with his brothers late at night in their shared bedroom on a song Brian later recalled as "our special one we'd sing," titled
Come Down, Come Down from the Ivory Tower. Brian noted of the late night brotherly three-part harmonies: "We developed a little blend which aided us when we started to get into the Beach Boys stuff."
The Beach Boys
Dennis' mother, Audree, forced Brian to include Dennis in the original lineup of the Beach Boys. Urged by older cousin, Mike Love, Dennis had approached Brian to form a group and compose a song about surfing. The Beach Boys formed in August 1961 and were successful immediately, Murry taken over guidance of the group as manager. Though the Beach Boys were named for, and developed, an image based on the California surfing culture, Dennis was the only actual surfer in the band.
During the first few years of the Beach Boys Dennis was given the role of the drummer by his brother, Brian. Though he quickly learned the basics of drumming at school lessons, like the other members he picked up more on the job. Brian Wilson took note of Dennis's limited drumming technique early on and occasionally hired session drummers to perform on studio recordings (additionally substituting all other players but Carl at one time or another, under the demand for the band members on tour). Dennis accepted this situation with equanimity, later stating, "Brian Wilson is the Beach Boys. We're just his messengers. He's everything-we're nothing." However, he did have his own stick style; in 1970, at the height of the band's UK popularity, a New Musical Express writer used the phrase, "as crisp as a Dennis Wilson rim shot." Although he rarely sang on stage, his raspy-sounding vocals were a key ingredient to the group's vocal blend in the studio, and in the late Sixties and Seventies his lead vocals lent a much-needed bluesy edge to an updating the Beach Boys' sound, giving their music new dimensions on the retreat of brother Brian's influence in composing and studio production.
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