Coordinates | 12°58′0″N77°34′0″N |
---|---|
name | Carl Wilson |
background | solo_singer |
birth name | Carl Dean Wilson |
born | December 21, 1946Hawthorne, California, U.S. |
died | February 06, 1998Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
instrument | Guitar, keyboards, bass, vocals |
genre | Rock, pop, psychedelic rock, surf rock, soul |
occupation | Musician, songwriter |
years active | 1960–1998 |
label | Capitol Records |
associated acts | The Beach Boys |
notable instruments | Gibson ES-355Fender StratocasterFender JaguarFender TelecasterRickenbacker 360/12 }} |
Following his performance of the lead vocal on "God Only Knows" in 1966, Carl was increasingly featured as lead vocalist for the band (a role previously dominated by Mike Love and Brian Wilson), singing many leads on the Smiley Smile and Wild Honey albums, including the hit singles "Good Vibrations," "Darlin'," and "Wild Honey," then on 1969's "I Can Hear Music," which served as Carl's first major studio production. He is widely recognized as an important singer in popular music. The renowned high tenor, Iestyn Davies, interviewed by Mark Lawson on BBC Radio 4's Front Row on 16 December 2009 referred to Wilson's lead in Good Vibrations as "[that] wonderful male alto solo; exactly the same sound you'd hear from a good singer in a cathedral or on a Baroque opera stage. It's a wonderful sound."
After his elder brother Brian's retirement from the stage in 1965, Carl became the de facto leader of the band onstage (contracts at that time reading that promoters hired 'Carl Wilson plus four other musicians'), and shortly after became the band's in-studio leader, producing the bulk of the albums 20/20, Sunflower, Surf's Up, Carl and the Passions - "So Tough" (named in honour of his effective leadership of the band at this point) and Holland.
In 1967 Wilson also made headlines as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, at one point having to let the rest of the band tour the UK without him while he was up before the draft board.
Never a prolific songwriter, Wilson's first solo composing contributions to the band, other than a handful of early surf instrumentals, came with 1971's Surf's Up, on which he composed "Long Promised Road" and "Feel Flows" to lyrics by the band's then manager Jack Rieley. He had earlier been given co-writing credits on a few songs, but these appear to have been for arrangement ideas contributed to others' songs - he considered "Long Promised Road" his first real song. On the immediately following Beach Boys albums, he would average one or two songs, cowritten with various lyricists or other members of the band. Carl's leadership role in the band diminished somewhat in the late '70s, both due to Brian's brief reemergence as the band's producer and substance abuse problems. He nonetheless remained a prominent and recognizable voice in the band, taking lead vocals on many songs and serving as "mixdown producer" on the Brian-produced Love You album.
By the time of recording of 1979's L.A. (Light Album), Carl again found himself filling the vocal and songwriting gap left by a retreating Brian Wilson. A song he wrote with Brian in 1974 and sang lead on, "Good Timin," was a Top 40 American hit from that album.
During the 1970s Wilson also produced records for several other artists, notably Ricci Martin (son of Dean Martin, not to be confused with the late-'90s pop star) and South African group The Flame (two members of which later joined The Beach Boys for a couple of years). His voice appears as a backing vocal on many recordings by groups and solo singers. Examples include Chicago's hit "Baby, What a Big Surprise", Chicago's Wishing You Were Here (with Al Jardine and his brother Dennis Wilson), Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" (with Bruce Johnston), David Lee Roth's hit cover of "California Girls," Warren Zevon's "Desperados Under the Eaves" and the Carnie & Wendy Wilson holiday track "Hey Santa!"
He released a solo album, Carl Wilson, which was well received by reviewers, in 1981, made up of songs co-written with Myrna Smith-Schilling (former backing vocalist for Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin and wife of Wilson's then-manager Jerry Schilling). The album briefly made the charts, and the second single, "Heaven", hit the top 20 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. He also undertook a solo tour to promote the album that same year, the first member of the band to do so (not counting Mike Love's various side projects in the late '70s). Initially, Carl and his band played clubs like The Bottom Line in New York City, and the Roxy in Los Angeles, then joined the Doobie Brothers as opening act on their 1981 summer tour.
He recorded a second solo album, Youngblood, in a similar vein, but by the time it was released in 1983 he had already rejoined The Beach Boys. Although Youngblood did not chart, a single, the John Hall-penned "What You Do To Me," did, making Carl only the second Beach Boy to land a solo single on the Billboard Hot 100, and again, hit the top 20 on their AC chart. Carl frequently performed that song and "Rockin' All Over the World" from the album, as well as "Heaven" from the 1981 album at Beach Boys concerts in the '80s, the latter being cast as a tribute to brother Dennis after his death in December 1983. The Beach Boys' 1985 eponymous album was dominated by Carl's lead vocals and songwriting, highlighted by his "It's Gettin' Late" (another top 20 AC hit) and the "Heaven"-like "Where I Belong". After this, though, Mike Love increasingly came to dominate the group's recorded output, and Carl stepped aside.
Carl carried on as a vital part of the band as a studio vocalist and concert performer, singing lead on the chorus of the band's most recent big chart success, 1988's US number one "Kokomo". He continued touring with the band until the last months of his life.
Carl Wilson lost his battle with cancer on February 6, 1998, just two months after the death of his mother, Audree Wilson. He was survived by his brother Brian, wife Gina (daughter of Dean Martin), and two sons by his first marriage, Justyn and Jonah.
A handful of recordings of Wilson have been released, notably the album Like a Brother, by a "supergroup" Wilson formed with Gerry Beckley of America and Robert Lamm of Chicago. He also appeared posthumously on his brother Brian's album Gettin' in Over My Head (which used his vocal from the unreleased Beach Boys song "Soul Searchin'" put to a new backing track), and bandmate Alan Jardine's 2010 release A Postcard From California (on the similarly reconstructed track "Don't Fight The Sea"). He also appears on the many Beach Boys archival releases that have come out since his death.
Category:1946 births Category:1998 deaths Category:The Beach Boys members Category:American rock guitarists Category:Deaths from lung cancer Category:Deaths from brain cancer Category:People from the Greater Los Angeles Area Category:American conscientious objectors Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:American people of Swedish descent Category:American record producers
de:Carl Wilson es:Carl Wilson fr:Carl Wilson ja:カール・ウィルソン no:Carl Wilson nn:Carl Wilson pl:Carl Wilson pt:Carl Wilson fi:Carl Wilson sv:Carl WilsonThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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