The next single, 'Surfer Girl', a wistful, yearning ballad emphasized the harmonies even more heavily as the voices began to twist and turn in creamy, close-packed, harmoni-cally sophisticated chorales, topped off with a gimmick adapted from East Coast vocal group records - Brian's cool, cruising falsetto, which became a major trademark. For `Surfin' USA' Brian had borrowed the tune and treatment from Chuck Berry's 'Sweet Little Sixteen', adding new words and a lead vocal surrounded by the beginnings of a cool, liquid harmony style strongly reminiscent of the Four Freshmen (and, by implication, the American glee-club tradition). In addition, it laid bare the influences be-hind the growing talent of Brian Wilson, who was coming to the forefront as the group's real creative force. 'Ten Little Indians', the follow-up, was a comparative flop, but the next one was big indeed : `Surfin' USA' reached No. Venet grasped the possibilities, signed the group, and `Surfin' Safari' became a national Top Twenty hit. When Candix, a small label, folded early in 1962, Murray Wilson took the boys along to Capitol Records and played producer Nik Venet acetates of `Surfin' Safari' and '409' - the latter a hymn in praise of the singer's car. Jardine left around this time to pursue his dentistry studies and was replaced by neighbour David Marks who played rhythm guitar, enabling Brian to switch to bass guitar.ĭennis played drums, while Mike Love- shared the lead vocals with Brian. Their concert debut under this name was in the Ritchie Valens Memorial Concert in Long Beach Municipal Auditorium on Dec. They also began to appear in public, initially as the Pendletones (after a make of heavy plaid shirt which surfers wore and which became their early uni-form), briefly as Carl and the Passions, and ultimately as the Beach Boys, the last name being a suggestion from Can-dix's promotion man. The publisher procured a release for the record on the local X label and then the slightly larger Candix label, and against all the odds it stuck around the lower limits of the American Hot Hundred for six weeks - based mainly on sales to Californian surfer boys and girls, no doubt. Their father, Murray Wilson, himself a song-writer, took the boys along to his music publisher and the song was recorded in somewhat improvised conditions with Carl on guitar, Alan on acoustic bass, and Brian providing percussive support on a garbage can. He sug-gested that the group sing about the pastime, and a song (written by Brian and Mike) called `Surfin" was the im-mediate result. It was Dennis's addiction to the Californian sport of surf-ing that gave the group their initial identity, one which survives indelibly in the minds of today's audiences. Harmony singing had always been an important part of their family life, and when the Wilson parents took a holiday in Mexico in September 1961 it was a perfect opportunity for the kids to rent instruments and start a group in their living room. 21, 1946) - their cousin Mike Love (March 15, 1941) and friend Alan Jardine (Sept. The group's formation took place in a middle-class Los Angeles suburb of Hawthorne, and was centred around the teenage Wilson Brothers - Brian (born June 20, 1942) Dennis (Dec. The Beach Boys, formed in 1961, still extant in 1975 with no prospect of dissolution, were America's only real challenge to the Beatles and certainly the most prominent white American group of the pre-psychedelic era. 1983),Ĭarl Wilson (vocals, guitar born 21. Brian Wilson (vocals, piano born June 20, 1942),ĭennis Wilson (drums born 4.
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