Dennis Wilson

Dennis Carl Wilson (December 4, 1944 – December 28, 1983) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He was their drummer and the middle brother of bandmates Brian and Carl Wilson. Dennis was the only true surfer in the Beach Boys, and his personal life exemplified the "California myth" that the band's early songs often celebrated. He later contributed original material to the band's reportoire, including "Forever" (1970), his best-known song.

Wilson drummed on many of the group's hits, belying the popular misconception that he was always replaced on record by studio musicians. He originally had few lead vocals on the band's songs, but his prominence as a singer and songwriter increased following their 1968 album Friends. Wilson, alongside Gregg Jakobson and Terry Melcher, was also embroiled with Charles Manson and his commune, a months-long association that ended after the Beach Boys released "Never Learn Not to Love" (1968), an uncredited Manson song that Wilson revised.

In the early 1970s, Wilson recorded an unfinished album with Daryl Dragon, later released on the 2021 compilation Feel Flows, and co-starred in the 1971 film Two-Lane Blacktop, his only acting role. He is sometimes cited as an uncredited writer on "You Are So Beautiful", a 1974 hit for Joe Cocker frequently performed by Wilson in concert. His only solo album issued in his lifetime, Pacific Ocean Blue (1977), was released to warm reviews and sales matching those of contemporaneous Beach Boys albums.

After the late-1970s, Wilson was encumbered by marital struggles, substance abuse, a severely degraded voice, and strained relationships with his bandmates. Sessions for a second solo album, Bambu, disintegrated before his death from drowning in 1983 at age 39. In 1988, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Beach Boys.