Beach Boys singer Mike Love has claimed his cousin Brian Wilson will rejoin the legendary band next year to mark the group’s 50th anniversary.
After leading the band through their commercial and creative peak in the Sixties, Brian Wilson became an increasingly peripheral figure during most of the next decade and eventually left in the mid-Eighties. Since 1997, Mike Love has toured under the banner of The Beach Boys with Bruce Johnston, and he now believes Wilson will join them on stage after years of acrimonious court battles. “Close your eyes and not only do we today replicate exactly how the original songs sounded, but the technology has gotten better so we even sound better,” Love told the Las Vegas Sun. “We began in the fall of 1961, and our first tour was in 1962, and it’s been nonstop since then. Now we’re gearing up for the 50th anniversary, and Brian Wilson, who has been working on some unfinished Gershwin music project, will rejoin us.
I’m sad that Carl Wilson passed away 11, 12 years ago from the same lung cancer problem that claimed the life of George Harrison. That was not a fun time for us. But I am happy that now my son Christian is in the group.”
Love was also asked to name his favourite Beach Boys track, and went with their classic 1967 single ‘Good Vibrations‘: “It’s very difficult to pick a real favourite. I’m proudest of all, though, with ‘Good Vibrations‘. I think it really says what we are all about. We must have played it somewhere over 7,500 times over the years. If I had a nickel for every…fortunately, I do!”