Brian Wilson, singer and co-founder of the Beach Boys, was placed under guardianship by the American justice system, at the request of his family. The 81-year-old musician, whose band produced the soundtrack to the Californian sixties legend, needs help in his daily life because of his dementia, which was publicly revealed last year.
His family requested guardianship in January, following the death of his wife Melinda. This request was approved Thursday, May 9, by a Los Angeles court, which recognized that the artist suffered from a “major neurocognitive disorder” and that he was “unable to care for himself,” according to several American media.
The guardianship of the singer, who has seven children, will be exercised jointly by his agent Jean Sievers and his manager LeeAnn Hard.
The singer’s notorious drug use had caused him to suffer from mental health problems, which began in the late 1960s. He described his wife Melinda, whom he met in the 1980s, as a “savior”, who had allowed him to have a second career and finish his unfinished masterpiece, the album “Smile”.
American pop prodigy, Brian Wilson made history in the early 1960s, when he composed rock’s happiest music with more than 200 hymns to the sun, surfing and tanned girls (Surfin’USA, I get around, Fun Fun Fun, Surfer girl). He made the Beach Boys the best-selling American group in the world.
From the ages of 19 to 24, the bassist and singer was in his own right the equal of the Beatles: John Lennon considered Pet Sounds (1966) to be one of the best albums of all time. After the innocence of the first compositions, the singer ruminated on the loss of youth and moved his group towards a more psychedelic rock.
