Will Paul and Ringo live forever?

People Magazine

Published on April 7, 2023 05:11PM EDT

The Beach Boys are one of the most successful American bands of all time, with more than 100 million records sold and over 80 charted songs worldwide.

Formed by brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin, Mike Love, and their pal Al Jardine in Hawthorne, California, in 1961, the group quickly rose to fame, signing a deal with Capitol Records in 1962. Between 1962 and 2021, the group enjoyed 15 top 10 hits on the Billboard 100, including "Surfin' U.S.A.," "Kokomo," "I Get Around" and "California Girls."

Sans for Love, who won the rights to the Beach Boys name in 2008, the band's lineup has changed many times over the years, with more than 60 musicians counted among its touring members, including John Stamos (the actor has periodically performed with the Beach Boys since 1985) and Glen Campbell, who temporarily replaced Brian on tour in the mid-'60s.

Brian continued to record with the group, crafting 1966's critically acclaimed Pet Sounds album and its singles "God Only Knows" and "Good Vibrations" — a song Jardine called "the pinnacle of an era" to PEOPLE in 2018. However, he became estranged from the group while focusing on his recovery from drug abuse in 1982.

Carl left for a year in 1981 to pursue his solo career, while Dennis, who befriended Charles Manson for a brief time in the late '60s, was fired for missing rehearsals. (He later died in a drowning accident in 1983.) As for Jardin, he left the group following Carl's death from cancer in 1998.

In 1988, all five of the band's original members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2001, the group was honored with a Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award.

While legal battles between Brian and Love over songwriting rights raged in the '90s and early aughts, Brian returned to tour with Love, Jardine and rhythm guitarist David Marks for the band's 50-year anniversary in 2012. It ended in controversy, however, when Love announced that he would continue touring without the group. "I'm disappointed and can't understand why he doesn't want to tour with Al, David, and me," Brian told CNN.

Love responded with a column in the Los Angeles Times, saying, "I did not fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I cannot fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys … I do not have such authority. And even if I did, I would never fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I love Brian Wilson. We are partners."

Brian Wilson, 80



The oldest of the Wilson brothers, Brian was born on June 20, 1942, in Inglewood, California, to Murry and Audree Wilson, and grew up in Hawthorne, California.



According to Murry, an aspiring musician who served as the Beach Boys' manager from 1961 to 1964, his first-born son showed a gift for music from as young as 2 years old, repeating melodies he'd only heard once and reacting to music. As Brian grew older, he also began to play the piano.



Together with his brothers Dennis and Carl, his cousin Love and friend Jardine, Brian formed the Beach Boys, serving as a songwriter, vocalist, bassist and keyboardist for the group. Their first single, "Surfin," was recorded in 1961 and earned the group a seven-year record deal with Capitol Records in 1962.



Though he performed with the band for the first few years, Brian pulled back to become a full-time studio artist in 1964. He became more and more reclusive from there, and in 1982, the bass player nearly died from a drug overdose, at which point the band forced him to get help. "​​'How did I survive? God only knows," told the Daily Mail in 2015.



He did not play with the group again until 2012 for the 50th anniversary.

Brian was married twice in his lifetime. He was first wed to Marilyn Wilson Rutherford (née Rovell), with whom he shares daughters Carnie and Wendy Wilson of Wilson Phillips, from 1964 to 1979. He later married Melinda Ledbetter in 1995, and together, the couple adopted five children: Dakotah Rose, Daria Rose, Delanie Rae, Dylan and Dash.

The songwriter's life got the silver screen treatment with the release of 2015's Love & Mercy, a biopic starring John Cusack and Elizabeth Banks based on Brian's struggles with mental illness over the course of two decades. "Music is his first love," Ledbetter reportedly told Bank ahead of the film's release. "Nothing can replace it." She added: "So I'm settling for second."

The vocalist followed up the film with the release of a 2016 autobiography, I Am Brian Wilson, in which he revealed that music served as an escape from "voices" he began to hear in his head after taking LSD for the first time in the '60s.

He also canceled shows in 2019 in the wake of struggles with his mental health.



In June 2022, the musician celebrated his 80th birthday, which was marked by tributes from musicians including Elton John and Smokey Robinson.



Dennis Wilson, 1944-1983



The middle child of Murry and Audree Wilson, Dennis was born on Dec. 4, 1944.

Unlike his big brother, who took to singing in school, Dennis was slower to display his musical talents. "[He] was the last one to really participate," Audree said in 1978's The Beach Boys and the California Myth, adding, "He started playing the piano when he was 14 . . . and all of a sudden, he was playing boogie-woogie."

According to the Guardian, Audree forced Brian to include Dennis in his band. "Mike Love never wanted me in the band," Dennis later confirmed to Rolling Stone. "Brian didn't either."

Dennis remained with the group until the late '70s, contributing songs like "Little Bird" before his drug and alcohol use reportedly began to affect his relationship with his bandmates and he was kicked out of the group, per Rolling Stone. He released one solo album, Pacific Ocean Blue, in 1977.

His personal relationships were also tumultuous: Dennis was married five times, to Carol Freedman, with whom he shared daughter Jennifer and son Scott, from 1965 to 1967; Barbara Charren, with whom he welcomed sons Michael and Carl, from 1970 to 1974; Karen Lamm from 1976 to 1977 and again from 1978 to 1980; and Shawn Marie Love in 1983, whom he married six months before his death and shared son Gage with.

He also dated Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie for nearly three years, even living in her Coldwater Canyon home. "Dennis walked into the studio one night and whisked me off my feet," McVie told Rolling Stone.

In later years, Dennis also shared a home with Charles Manson. "Dennis was all too happy to allow Manson and his girls to move in, use his charge cards, take his clothes, eat his food, even drive his Mercedes," Love wrote of his cousin, who estimated that Dennis lost about $100,000 to the group and was forced to move out of his home.

According to Love, Dennis felt extreme guilt over introducing Manson to producer Terry Melcher, who lived at the Tate home prior to the murders.

On Dec. 28, 1983, Dennis died of drowning. In 1988, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Carl Wilson, 1946-1998



The youngest Wilson brother was born in L.A. on Dec. 21, 1946. He joined the Beach Boys as a teenager after taking guitar lessons with his neighbor and future bandmate, David Marks.

"David and I were about 12," Carl recalled to Guitar.com in 1982 of his first instrument training.

In addition to creating the group's now-famed guitar riffs, Carl lent his voice to some of the group's biggest hits over the years, including "God Only Knows," "Kokomo" and "Good Vibrations"—something Brian encouraged early on. "Brian would make me, my mom and Mike sing the harmonies he had figured out," Carl recalled.

The musician, who recorded the group's first single, "Surfin," at age 14, later produced a good chunk of the band's albums in the period between the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Brian was more removed from the group.

Though he briefly left the Beach Boys in the early '80s to explore a solo career, releasing 1981's Carl Wilson and 1983's Youngblood, Carl returned by 1983.

In 1988, the youngest Wilson son was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with Brian, Love, Jardine and his late brother Dennis.

The drummer married Annie Hinsche, the sister of Beach Boys touring member Billy Hinsche, who died of cancer at the age of 70, from 1966 to 1982. Prior to his own death, the guitarist shared sons Jonah and Justyne with Annie. He was also married to Gina Martin from 1987 to 1998.

Carl died on Feb. 7, 1998 at the age of 51 from complications of lung cancer.

Mike Love, 82



Born in L.A. on March 15, 1941, and raised near his cousins in Baldwin Hills, Love was surrounded by music growing up, with a grand piano, an organ and a harp in his home. "My mom was an avid music fan. She sang light opera. She woke us up to go to school with opera music," Love told the Tampa Bay Times. "I can't remember a time when there wasn't music in my life.

When the band signed their record deal in 1962, Love, who has jokingly referred to himself as the "old man in the group" to PEOPLE, was 21 years old.

As the group's lead singer and the only Beach Boys member to remain a constant from its inception, Love co-wrote many of the band's hits — a fact he successfully sued Brian over authorship credit in the early '90s, gaining songwriting credits to 35 songs along with a settlement of $5 million.

"There was always the perception that my cousin Brian did all the writing as well as the producing and stuff like that. That was not true," Love told the Herald-Tribune in 2019. "I was the co-author of so many of the big hits."

Love continued to tour under the Beach Boys name, with Brian joining him for the group's 50th anniversary in 2012.

Additionally, he has released four solo albums and a memoir, Good Vibrations, which was published in 2016 and revealed many details about his cousin's relationship with Manson. "Neither Dennis nor I nor anyone associated with the Beach Boys had any idea that Manson was involved in these murders," Love wrote.

Married five times over to Francie St. Martin (1961 to 1963), Suzanne Belcher (1965 to 1968), Tamara Fitch (1971 to 1977), Catherine Linda Martinez (1981 to 1984) and Jacquelyne Piesen (1994), Love has at least seven children, two of whom he shares with Piesen. Shawn Marie Love, who was married to Dennis in 1983, has claimed to be Mike's illegitimate child, which he has denied.

Al Jardine, 80



Born in Lima, Ohio, on Sept. 3, 1942, and raised in Hawthorne, California, with the rest of his bandmates, Jardine, who reportedly had a strong interest in the banjo, pushed for a more folksy Beach Boys sound, but was overruled by the rest of the band.

Though the rhythm guitarist was featured on the group's first single, "Surfin'," having auditioned as a group for Jardine's mom to get the money to record it, he left the band by the time they signed with Capitol, according to Becoming the Beach Boys, 1961-1963, as he believed there was no future in the business.

He returned to the group upon Marks' departure in 1963 and toured with the group for much of the '70s, '80s and '90s. He also sang lead on the group's no. 1 hit, "Help Me Rhonda." Jardine left the band once more in 1998, shortly after Carl's passing.

Jardine wed Lynda Sperry, with whom he shares children Matthew Alan and Adam, from 1964 to 1982. He remarried Mary Ann Helmandollar in 1983. Jardine is also the father of Robert and Andrew.

The musician authored a children's book, Sloop John B: A Pirate's Tale, in 2005, and released one solo album, A Postcard From California, in 2010. In 2012, Jardine worked with Brian, Mike, Bruce and David to create a new album, That's Why God Made the Radio, and joined his bandmates on the group's 50th-anniversary reunion tour. He also headed out on the road with Brian for the 50th anniversary of Pet Sounds in 2016.

He continues to perform his own music on tour.

David Marks, 74

Marks, who was born on Aug. 22, 1948, moved in across the street from the Wilsons in Hawthorne, California, when he was 7 years old. At 10, he started taking lessons from John Maus of the Walker Brothers with Carl using a guitar his parents reportedly got for Christmas in 1958.

It wasn't until 1962, however, that he joined the Beach Boys, taking over for Jardine on rhythm guitar.

Though Marks can be heard on the group's earliest releases, including "Surfin' Safari," "Surfin' U.S.A.," "Surfer Girl" and "Little Deuce," he is not featured on the group's first single, "Surfin.'" He also left the group early on in 1963 due to disagreements with Murry.

Following his split from the Bech Boys, Marks continued to perform with other acts, even forming his own band, The Marksmen, which became one of the first groups to be signed to A&M records.

He also reportedly studied classical guitar at the Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory.

In the late '90s, Marks returned to tour with the group when Carl, who was ill with cancer, was unable to tour. He faced his own health issues in 1999, however, while dealing with hepatitis C, which he publicly struggled with until 2004.

In 2007, he published an autobiography titled The Lost Beach Boy: The True Story of David Marks. As of 2012, he was living with his wife Carrieann and his stepson in North Salem.

Bruce Johnston, 80

Bruce Johnston was born in Peoria, Illinois, on June 27, 1942, at the Florence Crittenton Home and was later adopted by a wealthy Chicago family.

Having joined the Beach Boys in 1965, Johnston, who studied classical piano, missed out on much of the group's early success, but the singer/songwriter had designs on music long before he became a member, playing and arranging on Sandy Nelson's TK song "Teen Beat" as a high school student. In 1960, he began producing at Del-Fi Records.

Johnston first appeared on the Beach Boys' "California Girls" in 1965. "I was the new guy!" he told PEOPLE while discussing the track. "That was one of the first ones I recorded."

He went full steam ahead with the group from there. "When I joined the band, we made and released three albums in 11 months," he reportedly told Rock Cellar in 2013.

The singer left the group in 1972 to pursue his solo career, which yielded three solo albums a Grammy for his work on 1977's Barry Manilow tune, "I Write the Songs."

He also became a dad: In 1976, Johnston married his wife, Harriet Johnston, and the couple went on to welcome four children: Ozzie, Justin, Ryan and Max.

Johnston returned to the Beach Boys in 1978 at the request of Brian and has continued to perform with various iterations of the band throughout the years.

In 2022, Johnston was credited as a writer and producer on The Weeknd's track "Here We Go…Again." He also told the L.A. Times that he had recorded with more material with Rex and Skrillex, saying, "These guys, it's like the Wrecking Crew in the 21st century."

Later that year, Johnston and Love also collaborated with LOCASH on their single "Beach Boys," which Love helped to co-write.

Ricky Fataar, 70

Born in Durban, South Africa, on Sept. 5, 1952, Fataar honed his musical chops early in life. From the time he was 9 years old until the time he was 18, the performer played in his hometown band, The Flames, with his brothers, Steve and Edries Fataar.

He first encountered the Beach Boys in 1969, when The Flames caught Jardine's eye during one their London performances. By that point, fellow South African singer Blondie Chaplin had joined the group, and the band released one album, The Flame, under the Beach Boys label, Brother Records. The group broke up after the album came out, however, and Chaplin and Ricky were then officially asked to join the Beach Boys.

Together, the new group members worked on tracks such as "Here She Comes, and "Hold on Dear Brother," which they co-wrote for the Beach Boys' 1972 release, Carl and the Passions - "So Tough."

Since his departure from the group in 1974, Fataar has continued to work with top musicians in the business, including Bonnie Raitt, whom he has been working with since 1979.

Fataar was once married to model Penelope Tree, with whom he shares daughter Paloma Fataar. He later tied the knot with Robin Wiliams' ex-wife Valerie Velardi, with whom he shares daughter Francesca Fataar.

Blondie Chaplin, 71

South African singer and guitarist Chaplin also got his start with The Flames, which he joined at the age of 13 and stuck with through the mid-to-late '60s. After releasing an album on the Beach Boys' label, he and Fataar were asked to join the group by manager Jack Rieley.

Though Chaplin was admittedly intimidated at first, Carl set his mind at ease. "Carl was a good help in making sure we were comfortable," he told Goldmine in 2023.

While the musician played on two Beach Boys albums — 1972's Carl and the Passions — "So Tough" and 1973's Holland, which featured Chaplin's vocals on "Sail on Sailor," he left the group in '73 following a dispute with Love's brother Stephen. "We were on a long tour and I got into an altercation with one of the guy's brothers," Chaplin told Rolling Stone in 2013. "I just said, "Forget it, I don't need this stuff."

Following his departure from the group, Chaplin worked with musicians such as the Rolling Stones, for which he served as a backing vocalist, percussionist and guitar player, Bonnie Raitt and more. In 2015, he reunited with Brian for the songwriter's album No Pier Pressure, on which he is featured as a vocalist. He also joined him on his 2016 Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary Tour, touring with the musician through 2022.