Brian Wilson, the magically creative force behind the Beach Boys, grew up in Hawthorne, California, where his unique musical talent blossomed early despite a turbulent home life.

His misguided father, Murry Wilson, a frustrated songwriter and controlling adversary, managed the band which also included his two other sons (guitarist Carl, and drummer Dennis) in its early years but clashed with Brian, often using physical and emotional abuse as tools of intimidation. 

Murry's competitive jealousy was ruthless. He not only sold the rights to Brian’s early songs without his consent, but after he was fired by his sons as their manager he formed The Sunrays, his own spite band, to compete with the Beach Boys.

The bizarre and never ending drama left lasting psychological scars that would affect Brian's erratic and sensitive genius. In spite of it all, the Beach Boys were an unstoppable hit machine fueled by Brian's intuitive know-how of musical arrangements, melodies, and harmony. 

Between 1962 and early 1966, the brothers (fronted by their cousin Mike Love and featuring Hawthorne High classmate Al Jardine), released 10 studio albums, all of which charted, and scored over a dozen Top 40 hits.

Perhaps you've heard a few of the bangers:

"Surfin' U.S.A." – #3 (1963)
"Be True to Your School" – #6 (1963)
"Fun, Fun, Fun" – #5 (1964)
"I Get Around" – #1 (1964)
"When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)" – #9 (1964)
"Dance, Dance, Dance" – #8 (1964)
"Help Me, Rhonda" – #1 (1965)
"California Girls" – #3 (1965)
"Barbara Ann" – #2 (1966)

That early sound, built on safe and hummable harmonies, stolen Chuck Berry guitar riffs; and family-friendly Americana themes of surfing, cars, and beachgoing California youth culture, helped define the West Coast pop aesthetic and subsequent mythology. 

Mythology? Indeed. Despite posing with surfboards on their album covers, the only Beach Boy who hung ten was drummer Dennis.

By the mid-'60s, Brian took a break from touring with the Beach Boys to focus on songwriting and mastering his studio prowess. It was there, inspired by the Beatles' Rubber Soul, he created Pet Sounds, a landmark in popular music. 

“Rubber Soul blew my mind," Wilson told Goldmine in 1995. After hearing it he said to himself, "that’s it. I really am gonna make the greatest album! I’m gonna make an album with no filler.’”

Mission accomplished. Regularly ranked by music aficionados and journalists as rock's finest album, 1966's Pet Sounds was a creative detour from the band's pop roots and a psychedelic trip down into a wonderland of complex orchestration.

Despite it's experimentation, it yielded hits like “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Sloop John B,” and “God Only Knows,” and deep cuts like “Caroline, No" and "Here Today."

It's secret sauce were the uncredited musicians like Hal Blaine, Carol Kaye, Tommy Tedesco, Don Randi, and others Wilson had employed on previous hits who collectively are known as The Wrecking Crew.

Early Beach Boys tracks like “I Get Around” (1964) with its complicated starts/stops and time changes and “Help Me, Rhonda” (1965) with its groovy and masterful bass lines or the dynamics of "Good Vibrations" (1967) -- surely people knew those wasn't being played by the Boys.

Brian, who produced and arranged the albums, acted as a conductor of sorts with the seasoned session stars, sometimes for very long takes to squeeze out special moments of improv and inspiration.

"Brian was fabulous. What a dear, sweet man, and such a brilliant musician," Kaye told Music Radar in 2011.

"He liked my bass playing. He was a bass player himself, but he was getting so busy writing material and producing that it was hard for him to think about playing, so he had to use other people," she said.

Here's Kaye on working with Wilson on some of his best songs:

"California Girls"

Brian would come in and play the song on piano. He'd sing it a little bit, but sometimes he didn't have all the words. But he'd play through the tune and give you the idea.

He'd have things written down, too. He was the one guy who had my parts written down.He would keep my bass sound way up in the mixes.

On a song like "California Girls," at times you can hardly hear anything else. He just liked my sound and the way I moved around the fretboard.

"Help Me Rhonda"

Well, it was fun because Brian was fun and he was a sweet guy. It was work, though.

Actually, that particular song was something else because Brian had us do an eight-minute take. You don't ever work the band for eight full minutes. We're giving you our all. At eight minutes, you start to lose it. Particularly with the part that I was playing, which was fast and bouncy.

"Good Vibrations"

It wasn't just one session, it was more like 12! [laughs] Ray Palmer did the first session, but his playing wasn't used. We did 12 more dates on "Good Vibrations" to get it right where Brian wanted it.

I played just what he had written out. There's string bass, too, but you don't really hear it.

Brian was beloved by fans, musicians, producers, and peers.

A humble, soft spoken, generous man who helped push pop music from being disposable to something vital and precious.

You know you've made it when Bob Dylan tweets good bye to you.

Brian's music is covered by countless artists and the Beach Boys continue to tour. Right now they are in east coast where they will remain through the beginning of July. Then they head to Europe. Tickets available on the Beach Boys website.